Kayla Harrison Places Seventh at KRA Korea World Cup

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) - Two-time Junior World medalist Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) placed seventh on Saturday at the KRA Korea World Cup in Suwon City. 

A silver medalist at the 2008 Korea Cup, Harrison won her first match in the 78kg division against Jong-Won Park (KOR) to advance to the quarter-finals against 13-time World Cup medalist Amy Cotton (CAN).  Although Cotton won their last match at the Senior World Championships in August, Harrison took an early lead by a yuko and held it throughout the match.  Harrison was later given a penalty, but looked to have won the match when Cotton caught her with a ura nage (rear throw) for a yuko score to tie the match.  In Golden Score (overtime), Harrison was given a penalty for a false attack which, combined with the previous penalty, gave Cotton the win. 

In the repechage, Harrison led by a yuko against Purevjargal Lkhamdegd (MGL), a seventh-place finisher at the 2008 Olympic Games, when she went in for a sode (sleeve throw) and Lkhamdegd countered the attack to throw Harrison for a waza-ari (half-point) score to win the match.

On a day when the Koreans swept the men's titles, two-time Pan Am Champion Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) also competed, but lost by two penalties to Suk-Woong Hong (KOR) in the first round.

Complete results are as follows:

Men's 81kg
1. Jae-Bum Kim (KOR)
2. Takhiro Nakai (JPN)
3. Min-Kyu Kim (KOR)
3. Suk-Woong Hong (KOR)
5. Mohamed Darwish (EGY)
5. Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar (MGL)
7. Jaromir Musil (CZE)
7. Katsushi Matsumoto (JPN)

Also Competed: Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 0-1 

Men's 90kg
1. Yong-Woo Kwon (KOR)
2. Geon-Ha Lim (KOR)
3. Walter Facente (ITA)
3. Yuki Haruyama (JPN)
5. Patrick Trezise (RSA)
5. Pablo Tomasetti (ITA)
7. Su-Geun Song (KOR)
7. Wuttikrai Srisoprap (THA)

Men's 100kg
1. Hee-Tae Hwang (KOR)
2. Battulga Temuulen (MGL)
3. Sun-Woo Park (KOR)
3. Lukas Krpalek (CZE)
5. Thierry Fabre (FRA)
5. Frederic Stiegelmann (FRA)
7. Kwang-Sun Yoo (KOR)
7. Yuki Deguchi (JPN)

Men's +100kg
1. Soo-Whan Kim (KOR)
2. Islam El Shehabv (EGY)
3. Angel Parra (ESP)
3. Sung-Min Kim (KOR)
5. Chul-Sung Baeg (KOR)
5. Dorjpalam Gankhuvag
7. Mathieu Thorel (FRA)
7. Mohamed Motie (EGY)

Women's 70kg
1. Juliane Robra (SUI)
2. Marie Pasquet (FRA)
3. Ye-Sul Hwang (KOR)
3. Mi-Young Choi (KOR)
5. Kelita Zupancic (CAN)
5. Shanshan Yu (CHN)
7. Jennifer Pitzanti (ITA)
7. Jin-Ah Kim (KOR)

Women's 78kg
1. Ruika Sato (JPN)
2. Gyeong-Mi Jung (KOR)
3. Stephanie Possamai (FRA)
3. Purevjargal Lkhamdegd (MGL)
5. Amy Cotton (CAN)
5. Da-Woon Jung (KOR)
7. Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
7. Feng Zhu (CHN)

Women's +78kg
1. Na-Young Kim (KOR)
2. Miku Eboshi (JPN)
3. Nodoka Shiraishi (JPN)
3. Eun-Ju Lee (KOR)
5. Lucia Tangorre (ITA)
5. Tae-Sun Kim (KOR)
7. Thonthan Bunduang (THA)

Tags: Kayla Harrison, Travis Stevens