Twenty-Five U.S. Athletes to Compete in Sao Paulo World Cup

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Twenty-five U.S. athletes will compete in the Sao Paulo World Cup in Brazil this weekend. 

The fourth qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympic Games, the Sao Paulo World Cup is a USA Judo Senior A-Level Point Tournament in which athletes’ results are used to earn slots on the World Ranking list and, ultimately, berths to the London Games. 

Among the athletes competing for Team USA are 17 members of the team that will compete at the Senior World Championships in Tokyo.  

The tournament comes on the heels of the Brazil Grand Slam where Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE / 78kg) placed fifth in an event that included athletes from 40 nations – many of whom are expected to remain in Brazil for the Sao Paulo World Cup. 

In 2009, this event was held in Belo Horizonte with seven U.S. athletes placing in the top five.  Five of the seven, including Harrison who won a bronze medal, will be competing this year as well. 

Daniel McCormick (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) won his first A-Level bronze medal last year in Belo Horizonte and went on to place third at the Pan American Championships in the +100kg division.

Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at South Florida) placed fifth as a 57kg player at the 2009 Belo Horizonte World Cup, but has since moved down to 52kg where she won a gold medal at the Senior Nationals three weeks ago. 

Katie Sell (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / 70kg) and Shintaro Higashi (Scarsdale, N.Y. / NYAC / Kokushi / 100kg) both finished fifth last year as well – the first placings for both players outside of North America.  

Olympian Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) also will be one of the top players to watch in Sao Paulo.  Stevens has medaled twice at A-Level events, winning bronze at the 2009 Brazil and 2010 Paris Grand Slams, and has been ranked as one of the top 10 players in the world.   

Competition will be held on Saturday and Sunday with the schedule as follows:

Men’s 60kg, 66kg, 73kg 

Sunday, May 30
Women’s 70kg, 78kg and +78kg
Men’s 81kg, 90kg, 100kg and +100kg

A roster of U.S. athletes competing is as follows:

Women’s 52kg
Natalie Lafon (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 2009 Senior Pan Am Team member and 2009 U.S. Open bronze medalist
Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at South Florida), 2010 Senior World Team member at 52kg and 2009 U.S. Open silver medalist at 57kg                                                        

Women’s 57kg
Marti Malloy (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), three-time Senior World Team member and 2010 Senior Pan Am silver medalist
Hana Carmichael (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2009 Rendez-Vous Canada Champion
Hannah Martin (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 2009 U.S. Open and Rendez-Vous Canada bronze medalist
Anna Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), 2010 Senior Nationals silver medalist at 63kg and 2008 Senior Pan Am Team member at 52kg

Women’s 70kg
Katie Sell (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), two-time Senior World Team member and 2009 U.S. Open silver medalist 

Women’s 78kg
Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), two-time Senior World Team member and three-time World Cup medalist

Women’s +78kg
Toni Geiger (Dumont, N.J. / Tech Judo), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2009 Finnish Open bronze medalist

Men’s 60kg
Aaron Kunihiro (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), two-time Senior World Team member and 2009 Senior Pan Am medalist
Jeff Fujimoto (Berkeley, Calif. / Cal Judo), fifth-place finisher at the 2010 Senior Nationals and 2009 U.S. Open 

Men’s 66kg
Brad Bolen (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2010 Senior Pan Am Champion
Jeff Fong (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), 2009 Senior World Team member and 2010 Senior Nationals bronze medalist

Men’s 73kg
Michael Eldred (Fruitland, Idaho / Western Idaho Judo Institute), two-time Senior World Team member and 2009 Senior Pan Am medalist
Nick Delpopolo (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2009 Rendez-Vous Canada Champion

Men’s 81kg
Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 2008 Olympian and two-time Grand Slam medalist
Jose Bencosme (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2009 U.S. Open Champion

Men’s 90kg
Jake Larsen (Lafayette, Colo. / Team FORCE / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), 2010 Senior World Team and 2009 Senior National Champion
Aaron Cohen (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), three-time Senior World Team member and five-time Senior Pan Am medalist
Aaron Handy (Wakefield, Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 2009 National President’s Cup Championships silver medalist

Men’s 100kg
Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2010 Senior Pan Am medalist
Shintaro Higashi (Scarsdale, N.Y. / NYAC / Kokushi), 2010 Senior World Team member and 2007 Senior National Champion

Men’s +100kg
Daniel McCormick (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), 2008 Olympian and 2009 Belo Horizonte World Cup medalist

Tags: Kathleen Sell, Aaron Kunihiro, Aaron Cohen, Aaron Handy, Aaron Kunihiro, Angelica Delgado, Anna Palmer, Daniel McCormick, Kathleen Sell , Katie Sell, Kayla Harrison, Michael Eldred, Nick Delpopolo, Travis Stevens