*courtesty of United States Pan American Team

From USA Daily (Official Newsletter of 2011 U.S. Pan American Team):

Highlighted by Kenny Hashimoto’s (Thornton, Colo.) silver medal at
66kg, the U.S. judo team won three medals on Friday (Oct. 28) at the
Pan American Games…

Hashimoto competed in the men’s 66kg division, where he won his
first-round match against Chile by ippon with uchi mata, then came
out the victor in his second match against Ecuador by ippon with a
counter throw. Two shidos to one shido gave Hashimoto a semifinals
victory against Venezuela, before he faced Brazil in the finals, where
he dropped the match by ippon to earn the silver medal.

“I definitely didn’t do as well as I would have liked to. I didn’t have set
expectations coming into the tournament. I just planned to come out
to do my best and see where that got me,” said Hashimoto.

Congratulations Kenny!

We all know Sayaka as a sweet, supportive, and caring member of the IC community (a phenomenal athlete nonetheless), however, there is another side that we rarely get to see. I wouldn’t want to cross her in a dark alley! Check out her highlight video:

While we are on the topic of Judo, I want to remind everyone that both Annie and Kenny continue to climb the ranks on their quest to the 2012 Olympic Games. But they won’t go too far without our support. Please contribute whatever you can to their travel fund as these great athletes need our help (see Nicki, Sara, or JD for details).

Best,
Steven

Congrats to our Judo athletes Annie, Kenny, and Michael for amazing results at the U.S. Open in Miami this past Sunday. After some disappointments at the World Cup on Friday, Annie and Kenny both came back to take Bronze medals, beating Irelend, Peru, Venezula,  and Canada.  Meanwhile Michael had one of his best performances to date, winning Bronze at the World Cup and Silver at the U.S. Open.

Earlier today,  Annie took Gold at North Central American Championships, a qualifier for the 2011 Pan American Games!