Pedro’s Judo Earns Two Bronze Medals in Samoa
Wakefield, MA – Over the weekend, on the other side of the world in Apia Samoa, two of our elite athletes medaled at the SIFA OJU World Cup. With the Olympics just around the corner athletes must compete and medal at virtually every tournament that crosses their paths in order to qualify for the Games in London this coming July.
All the way in the South Pacific, Janine Nakao (63kg) and Aaron Kunihiro (60kg) scored themselves a bronze medal and an additional 40 points to their World Ranking Place. Nakao who is now ranked 41st and Kunihiro who is ranked 49th in the World still have some work to do but this past weekend’s performance put them a step in the right direction.
Kunihro won his first two matches by Ippon (instant win) but then lost to China by getting two shidos (penalties), then he came back to beat Hong Kong for the bronze medal. He stated on his Twitter account, “Good weekend, finished with a bronze medal” and continued, “…next time I’m going for a medal a little brighter than bronze though.” This will add to Kunihiro’s bronze medal he just took at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, MEX.
Nakao also made some noise on the world stage this year by scoring a bronze! Janine won the Senior Nationals this year, which was a huge accomplishment for Janine, but now her bronze medal, is one of her top performances to date. Nakao stepped out on the mat “nervous” but the nerves were soon “thrown away” as she slammed the Australian athlete for Ippon at the 4:20 mark. She also went on to win her next match by Ippon, until getting thrown for Ippon herself by the Ukraine player. She then came back and beat US Rival, Christal Ransom for Bronze.
Both athletes have been training very hard over the summer and their tournament season has begun! Again with the Olympics right around the corner we look forward to all of our elite athletes competing for a spot on the 2012 US Olympic Team.
