Call us  (510) 237-0607

11165 San Pablo Ave
El Cerrito, CA 94530

EBJI Wins 9 Medals at San Jose Buddhist Tournament!

EBJI’s competitors came home with 9 medals this past weekend at the San Jose Buddhist Judo Tournament held at the San Jose State Event Center on February 14, 2010.

The San Jose Buddhist Tournament is one of the largest local tournaments in the Bay Area, with competitors from around the west coast gathering to compete.
4363644386_46d6d747fb_oLeading the EBJI contingent were Ann Shiraishi, Molly O’Rourke and Takashi Matsumoto, who all took Gold Medals in their respective divisions.

Ann Shiraishi competed in the women’s 48 kilogram category and won a gold medal. Ann had 3 matches and won all of them by ippon, including a win over Lisette Abad from San Jose State University. This win bumped Ann to the number one spot in the women’s 48kg category on the USA Judo Roster, and guarantees her spot on the 2010 World Championships Team, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan later this year.

Molly O’Rourke, the alternate for the 2004 Olympic Team in the 78 kilogram category, moved up a weight division to compete in her first tournament in 2 years. Molly breezed through her division, beating her 2 opponents both in less than 2 minutes into the match.

Ann now turns her attention on the Pan American Grand Prix, which will be held later this month in Panama.

Molly now turns her attention to the Senior Nationals, which will be held the first weekend in May in South Carolina.

8-Year old Takashi Matsumoto led the youngsters by taking a Gold Medal in his age and weight division. Takashi won all 4 of his matches to win his first Gold Medal ever.

10 Year old Twins Satoshi and Masashi Matsumoto each took a bronze medal in their respective age and weight divisions. Satoshi won 2 matches by ippon and Masashi won 1 match by ippon in a 4 man pool. Masashi threw his opponent with a beautiful osotogari in the final seconds of the match to win bronze.4362902537_a0692c035c_o

11 Year old Jackson Kim won a silver medal in his division, winning 3 matches. Jackson showed great aggressiveness throughout all his matches.

13 Year old Dillon Izzo also competed at San Jose Buddhist, winning a bronze medal in his age and weight division. En route to the bronze, Dillon had a beautiful footsweep and threw his opponent for ippon (full point)

15 Year old Brandon Izzo added a silver medal to the EBJI medal count. Brandon, who has been battling an injury, competed in his first tournament in months, but showed improvement by throwing and pinning his various opponents.

John Bennett won the 9th medal for EBJI taking a silver medal in the senior men’s brown belt division. John, who has also shown tremendous improvement recently, had a few solid throws and showed great aggressiveness throughout all of his matches.

All of EBJI’s competitors showed vast improvement and now focus their attention on the Cupertino Judo Tournament, which will be held on March 28, 2010.