Published on Sunday, April 22, 2007
After losing in the medal round, Miami's Jeanette Rodriguez rebounded to win a spot on the U.S. Pan Am team.
D. Michael Quinones
dquinones@MiamiHerald.com
When the buzzer sounded, the look of joy on Jeanette Rodriguez's face bordered on disbelief.
But sure enough, this 16-year-old Miami resident had clinched a slot on the women's 48-kilogram U.S. Pan American team by virtue of winning two out of three grueling matches against Sayaka Matsumoto of El Cerrito, Calif.
After losing to Matsumoto in the national championship gold-medal round earlier in the evening, Rodriguez came back with a vengeance to take the first match in an epic Golden Score match that went to a judges' decision.
"I felt great in that match, " Rodriguez said. "My leg had started to cramp a little, but I was able to play through it."
Rodriguez also played through a little controversy. Matsumoto won the second match with what was deemed to be a controversial forced tap-out, which Rodriguez contended did not happen.
"That's one of the beautiful things about Judo, it has a lot of grey areas open to interpretation in the rulings, " said Rhadi Ferguson, a former Olympian Judoka.
Said Rodriguez: "No, I didn't tap out. But, whatever, its all Judo."
In the final match, Rodriguez scored a decisive waz-iri, or high point, after trailing early, a score that proved to be the difference in the match.
Rodriguez, who attends the North Miami USA Judo training center, alternated between competition and cheering for teammate Francesca Durand.
Durand defeated gold medalist Carrie Chandler 2-0 to qualify for a spot on the Pan Am team, joining Rodriguez and men's 100-kilogram winner Adler Volmar as South Florida representatives headed to Rio de Janeiro for the Pan Am Games.
"Our coaches just kept encouraging me. They always tell us we were born to do judo, and it really helps, " Durand said after her victory.
"It looks like I'm going to have to by a ticket to Brazil after all!" joked Jhonny Prado, sensei of the North Miami dojo.
Prado had just spent the day watching his judokas falter early in preliminary rounds, flirt with success in the gold-medal rounds, and then come through late in the qualifying rounds.
"Actually, I couldn't be happier to take this trip. All these kids deserve this, they train hard and they stuck together like a real team all day, " Prado said after the roller-coaster evening.
In other medal-round action, Jacksonville's Hiram Cruz outlasted Kyle Taketa in the 55-kilogram gold-medal match. Cruz scored a powerful ippon, or winning point, with time running out, securing his first national championship.
The world judo circuit continues in May as Team USA travels to the Pan Am Championships in Montreal.
Following their trip north, the U.S. team heads to Rio De Janeiro for the Pan Am qualifying rounds where, bolstered by a South Florida-heavy roster, it will attempt to prove its Olympic readiness.
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