The vision of USJF is to have JUDO in every American community and school and our mission is to serve and support its members in the American judo community while upholding the principles of mutual welfare and benefit.

The United States Judo Federation events as of December 2011:

Results Women

Results Men

Bronze fight: Yartsev, Denis (RUS) – Van De Kamer, Neal (NED)

The whistles and shouts, heard clearly on the live television broadcast, were an unprecedented rebuke as Putin prepares to return to the presidency next year.

A judo enthusiast, Putin has long been an admirer of Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist Fedor Emelianenko and came to see him take on American Jeff Monson.

After Emelianenko won, Putin stepped into the ring to congratulate him, but was met with catcalls from many of the 22,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium.

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Several reigning Paralympic Games medallists will be among these athletes.

The top 10 ranked male judokas and top six ranked female judokas at the end of 2011 will earn qualification slots at the London 2012 Paralympic Games for their respective countries.

Paralympic Games gold medallists Carmen Herrera of Spain (the favourite in the women’s -70kg category) and Oleg Kretsul of Russia will be tough to beat on the mat this weekend at the K2 Crawley centre. Oleg will be challenged by the much-improved Sam Ingram of Great Britain, who won bronze at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

France is presented by Paralympic silver medallists Cyril Jonard (men’s -81kg category) and Sandrine Martinent (women’s -52kg category).

We expect to see a heated battle in the women’s -52kg competition between Germany’s Ramona Brussing (who was the second in the women’s -57kg category at Beijing 2008) and Spain’s Marta Arce (who took a silver medal in the -63kg category at Beijing 2008).

Canadien Sasha Mehmedovic won the gold medal in the under 66 kg category, late Saturday night, at the Apia Judo World Cup, in Samoa.

The Quebecer, 24th overall in the international rankings, easily took down the Australian Jake Young in his first match, winning by ippon. It was more of the same in the semifinals, as he made quick work of the 35th ranked American, Bradford Bolen. He then took on the Australian Ivo Dos Santos (20th) in the final, where he would win the gold by way of a waza-ari.

Sashsas coach, Nicolas Gill, explained:

“It was a flawless performance by Sasha. He won all three of his bouts with ease. This tournament gives him a big helping hand in his quest for an Olympic selection, but it’s going to be a dogfight between him and Michal Popiel right up until the end”

Five medals went to Ukrainian judokas:
Artem Bloshenko (100kg) in the finals beat his compatriot Viacheslav Denysov to claim the gold.
Two more silver awards went to Oksana Didenko (63kg) and Natalia Smal (70kg), while Viktoria Turks (70kg) took the bronze award.

Medal standings:

1. England 3 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze
2. Canada 2 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze
3. Slovenia 2 gold, 0 silver, 1 bronze
4. Ukraine 1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze

He competed with U.S. junior team in March in Russia and made the Pan Am team for second time this year.

But rather than travel to Argentina for the Pan Am games, he will represent the U.S. in Harnes, France, Dec. 7 to 14 at an international training camp and tournament.

“My real goal is the Olympics in 2016,” Devin said. “I will keep going to nationals until I am old enough to go to the junior worlds, a miniature world championship for juniors (ages 16 to 18), and fight internationally.”

He competed in his first tournament in Dallas at 8 and placed third. Sobay began competing nationally at 10 and has won 17 national medals, 13 gold.

To reach the Olympics, Sobay must compete on an international level and train with internationally acclaimed senseis.

Visit Devin Sobay’s website here

I was  in Houston for the Houston Open Judo Tournament this past Saturday, 11/05. This particular tournament is one of the few in the United States that I know of that give prizes or money for 1st place other than a medal. In the Junior Division, contested ones, if you take 1st place then you win a iPod Shuffle. I, unfortunately, did not have anyone in my age/weight division. I then tried the older divisions and again I did not have anyone. So I did not win a iPod shuffle. Yet I did have competitors in my Senior Novice Division. The first fight only lasted 7 seconds. I wanted the win but I also wanted to win the money. It was $100.00 and this was the first time I had a chance to win money. So I got my power grip right away and threw him for an Ippon. Then my second fight I wanted to do the same, get my power grip and throw. I got my grip but not how I like so my attempt at a throw was unsuccessful. We both fell to the ground and nothing came of it so the Ref stopped the fight. When the fight started again, I got my power grip and threw him. I was told the fight lasted 18 seconds. It was a long weekend but well worth it!! My next tournament is 11/19 in Dallas. Plus it is getting closer to the France trip. Thank you everyone and talk to you later.

     
• Sport SAMBO, women: 48, 60, 72 kg

     

• Sport SAMBO, men: 52, 68, 90 kg

     

• Combat SAMBO, men: 57, 74, 100 kg

World Sambo Championship 2011. Lithuania, Vilnius. Preliminaries. Part 2.

Last year 300 competitors from 30 countries participated in World Championships that took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Most representative delegations were those of Europe (14 countries) and Asia (11 countries). Athlets from 16 countries won medals of Tashkent’s games – that’s a fact for a broad modern geography of SAMBO. The top three leaders in the SAMBO are: Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus.

Short review of potential leaders:

• Bulgarians are very strong in combat SAMBO at the moment. At the last European Championships the Bulgarians won five silver medals and a gold in the most prestigious heavyweight category. Martin Marinkov (Bulgarian heavyweighter) achieved impressive victory by a submission hold on the second minute of the bout despite being 1-8 down over its course. In team rankings the Bulgarian combat SAMBO wrestlers only lost to team Russia by a small margin.
• France is successfully trying on a sambo mats. French athlete in 100kg weight class Nicholas Mbog stepped on the top of the podium. In the final he sensationally defeated Bulgaria’s Ivan Stoyanov.
• Sambo wrestlers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan shined at the 2011 Asian Championships. Certainly these athletes will be among medal contenders in Lithuania too.

• Lithuanian sambo wrestlers won two bronze medals at the SportAccord’s First World Combat Games in Beijing a year ago. Lithuania’s Sergej Grecicho (74kg weight category) and Tadas Rimkevicius (heavyweight) climbed on the third steps of the podiums of this prestigious martial arts forum in China.

• Women SAMBO: teams Belarus and Russia. At the European Championships the Belarusian ladies won three gold medals, but still finished behind the Russians in the team rankings.

• Mongolia and Georgia traditionally perform strongly at the World Championships.

• South Koreans: recently SAMBO has been developing very fast in Korea. Korean athlete Kwangsub Kim won a bronze medal in sports SAMBO at the aforementioned SportAccord’s World Combat Games in Beijing in 68kg weight class.

The geography of SAMBO is expanding; the interest towards this unique martial art is growing in all over the world.

Born May 9, 1990, Whitby Ontario

Judo victories:

• Silver, Sao Paolo, June 2011
• Bronze, Rio, June 2011
• Bronze, Pan Ams, April 2011
• Silver, Suwon, Korea, December 2010
• Gold, Pan Ams, April 2010
• Gold, Baku, Azerbaijan, January 2010

Kelita Zupancic is Canada’s rising star in the sport and competes in the under 70-kg class. She’s an athlete who will likely be at her peak when the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics roll around, but she is determined that youth will be served at 2012 summer’s London Games.

“I think my chances are actually good for a medal,” Kelita said. “If I’m on and I fight the way I can and I’m on a roll and I get the first win going, it’s going to be hard to stop me, I think.”

There aren’t a lot of Canadian success stories in judo (besides of Tsunami Club’s judokas) for a reason. The sport’s barely on the radar in Canada and particulary in Ontario and the physical and mental price you have to pay to be among the world’s best is far too exorbitant for most.

If you’re dreaming to participate in the next National or International competition and ready to work hard – call Tsunami Club today and you could be the next Canadian Judo star!