2007 Belgian Women's Open Day 2

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2007 Belgian Women's Open Day 2 - 4th February

Women Day 1 and Men

February 4, 2007

Valerie Gotay Beats Former World Champion to Win Belgian Ladies Open

Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 57kg) won her second European tournament in as many weeks on Sunday at the Belgian Ladies Open in Arlon.

Gotay, left with last week's British Open gold medal, who also won the British Open in London last Sunday, was undefeated in both her round robin pool as well as the main draw, winning most of her matches by ippon (instant win) to advance to the final against Yurisleidis Lupetey (CUB), the 2001 World Champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist.

Now ranked fourth in the world, Lupetey had beaten Gotay during their two match-ups in 2006.

This time, Gotay held Lupetey scoreless and avoided any penalties during the five-minute regulation period to send the match into Golden Score where she pinned Lupetey to win the match.

Gotay’s gold medal is her third in European competition in recent months after she also won the Finnish Open in November. The win also marks the first time in recent history that an American woman has beaten a Cuban competitor.

This week is the second of five European events that Gotay will compete in this winter as next week she and Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / Jason Morris Judo Center / 63kg) will compete in the Paris Super World Cup – an event rivaled in difficulty only by the World Championships and Olympic Games.

Rousey (left with the 2006 Birmingham World Cup gold medal), the 2006 Belgian Ladies Open Champion, advanced out of her pool in a tournament where everyone must first finish in the top two of a series of three- or four-person round robin pools in order to progress to the main draw.

After winning her next match against Rizlein Zouak (FRA), Rousey fought Yaritza Abel (CUB) who is best known in judo circles for throwing Rousey for ippon during the finals of the 2006 Pan American Championships.

Abel caught her Rousey with another o soto gari (outer leg throw), winning the match by ippon.

Abel later lost to a Japanese competitor and, as the tournament uses an older elimination system, eliminated Rousey from further competition because in order to move down to the repechage your competitor must advance to the final round rather than the semifinal round method that is traditionally used.

Kayla Harrison (Middletown, Ohio / Renshuden / 70kg), who won Saturday’s junior division, advanced out of her pool and won her first match before getting pinned by 2006 Rome World Cup Champion Elisa Schmidtke (left) (GER). Schmidtke later lost to 2006 Pan American Champion Yelennis Castillo (CUB), eliminating Harrison. Lisa Uemura (Salinas, Calif. / Salinas Judo / 78kg) also went 1-1 in the main draw.

Jeanette Rodriguez (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 48kg - right with her British Open gold medal), a junior bronze medalist on Saturday, was on track to move out of the pools when she sustained an injury during her final round robin match against a German opponent and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

Rodriguez wasn’t the only one with injury difficulties as her North Miami teammate Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / 52kg) advanced out of the pools, but sustained an injury when she was armbarred by Monika Cabaj (POL), seven-time World Cup medalist.

Durand was slated to drop down to the repechage where she would fight Anna Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site), but withdrew from the match. Palmer then lost to Japan.

Ann Shiraishi (Elk Grove, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute / 48kg) also advanced out of the pools, but withdrew from the main draw with an injury.

Nina Cutro-Kelly (Albany, N.Y. / Universal Judo / 78kg) won each of her three round-robin matches by ippon before losing to Ukraine in the first round of the main draw.

Last year’s Pan American bronze medalist Sayaka Matsumoto (El Cerrito, Calif. / NYAC / East Bay Judo / 48kg left at the 2005 Rotterdam World Cup) advanced out of the pools and then lost to Kimi Suda (CAN), a bronze medalist at the 2006 U.S. Open.

Veronica Prado (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 48kg) lost in the first round of the main draw to 2006 Rome World Cup Champion Leen Dom (BEL).

A pair of junior 57kg players, Pauline Macias (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site) and Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site) finished as #2 in their respective pools before losing in the first round of the main draw.

The following athletes competed, but did not advance out of their round robin pool to the main draw:

	Michelle Sternick (Mansfield, Pa. / Mansfield Judo / 48kg)
	Carrie Chandler (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / Jason Morris Judo Center / 57kg right at the 2005 Rotterdam World Cup)
	Hana Carmichael (Wellington, Fla. / Budokan Judo / 57kg)
	Natalie Laursen (Livermore, Calif. / Amador Judo / 63kg)
	Nicole Archuleta (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site / 63kg)
	Marina Shafir (Latham, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center / 78kg)
	Brittni Bradford (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo / +78kg)