Judo

Japan's two-time Olympic champion Masato Uchishiba crashed out of the world judo championships Wednesday, but there was gold medal joy for compatriot Tomoko Fukumi. Uchishiba lost to Uzbeki opponent Mirali Sharipov on an ippon in their under 66kg, second round contest. Sharipov was then beaten by Russia's Alim Gadanov while France's Benjamin Darbelet also suffered a shock loss, going out in the early stages. In the absence of some of the division's big names, Mongolia's Tsagaanbaatar Hashbaatar won gold beating Spaniard Sugoi Uriarte in the final. Uriarte took the silver while Hungary's Miklos Ungvari and South Korean Jeong-Hwan An took both bronze. Uchishiba won ... Read Full Story

Lee Kyu-Won won the men's under90 kg title at the judo world championships on Saturday, ousting Russian Kirill Denisov by ippon. "It's unbelievable. Of course I wanted to have a medal, but actually I did not expect it to be the gold," said Lee. "I am really delighted that I could win with exactly the technique which I wanted to use." Denisov said of his silver medal showing: "It was not quite enough today. I did not push through to the end which is a shame. I was lacking the very little last step. "Overall I think my performance at this world championships was ... Read Full Story

Japan's two-time Olympic champion Masato Uchishiba crashed out of the world judo championships Wednesday, but there was gold medal joy for compatriot Tomoko Fukumi. Uchishiba lost to Uzbeki opponent Mirali Sharipov on an ippon in their under 66kg, second round contest. Sharipov was then beaten by Russia's Alim Gadanov while France's Benjamin Darbelet also suffered a shock loss, going out in the early stages. In the absence of some of the division's big names, Mongolia's Tsagaanbaatar Hashbaatar won gold beating Spaniard Sugoi Uriarte in the final. Uriarte took the silver while Hungary's Miklos Ungvari and South Korean Jeong-Hwan An took both bronze. Uchishiba won ... Read Full Story

I have a handful of announcements for my judo kids and their parents. No class today First, remember there will be no class today (Thursday, October 8, 2009.) It's QuinZilla's birthday, and we'll be at Fox's Pizza Den instead of the dojo. Y'all are welcome to meet us there if you like! Check with Elise or me for time and details. . It's uniform time again The hottest part of the year is over, so our no-uniform classes are coming to an end. The judo kids should wear their judo uniforms and their belts to practice because the uniform makes them feel like a ... Read Full Story

Photo courtesy Elise D. Parker Last night we had our semi-annual family night, kohaku shiai, and promotion ceremony. It was well-attended by students and families and the kids got to show their parents some of what they've been learning. In the shiai we had a total of 30 matches of rooster-tail randori and newaza randori amongst 16 competitors. The winners were: 1st Place: Tanner Humphries (6 wins) 2nd Place: Andrew Kelly (5 wins) 3rd place: Luke Fortinberry (4 wins) Note the demographics of the winners: one kid who is middle-of-the-pack size and age-wise, the one kid with the least amount of judo training time, ... Read Full Story