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East Bay Judo Institute members Sayaka Matsumoto, Marti Malloy,
and Molly O�Rourke competed at the 2002 Rendezvous International
Tournament, held 19-20 October 2002 in Montreal, Canada at the Pierre
Charbonneau Center. Two hundred and fifty contestants from around the
world competed in this two-day event.
Matsumoto, 19, a sophomore at University of California, Berkeley,
went 2-1 to take a bronze medal at this event. In her first round,
Matsumoto defeated Isabel Latullippe of Canada by wazari (half point)
with osoto gari (major outer reap). In the second round, Matsumoto met
the eventual silver medalist, Brigitte Thibault of Canada. Matsumoto
took the lead early, scoring yuko (partial point) with osoto gari. Later
in the match, however, Matsumoto attacked osoto gari again and was
countered for a yuko. She then got caught by a pin for ippon, dropping
her into the bronze medal match. There she met Crystal Brown of the US
Olympic Training Center, whom she easily beat with uchimata (inner thigh
reap) for ippon and the bronze medal. It was Matsumoto�s second bronze
medal at this event in as many years.
Malloy, 16, a high school junior, competed in her first senior
international tournament and had a great day. In her first three rounds
she defeated Maryse Guibault of Canada, Jessica Noji of Canada, and
Carrie Chandler of the US all by ippon all using the same technique �
osoto gari. In particular, Chandler is the #2 ranked female in this
division in the US, and the 2001 US Senior National Champion. In the
semifinals, Malloy met Jenni Brien of Great Britain. With both players
fighting hard for grips and the technical advantage, both received
penalties of shido, chui, and then keikoku. Malloy then stepped up the
pressure on Brien, outgripping and outattacking her, forcing her to
receive a fourth and final penalty for hansoku make, sending Malloy into
the gold medal finals. There she met Ellen Wilson of the US Olympic
Training Center, the 2000 Olympic Games representative and current
senior national champion. The match was close for the entire five
minutes, when Malloy forced two errors by Wilson, who received shido and
chui penalties, giving Malloy the win and her first gold medal in her
first senior international competition.
O�Rourke, 19, competed in the female under 78 kg division in
the second day of competition. This was not to be her day, however, as
she lost to Amy Cotton of Canada, the eventual silver medal winner, by
ippon by pin in the first round. Dropping to the repechage, O�Rourke
then met Marie-Lynn Deschamps of Canada. Despite lighting the board with
wazari, yuko, and koka scores through a variety of throws, O�Rourke
got caught with ogoshi (major hip throw) with 11 seconds left on the
clock which was scored ippon, eliminating O�Rourke from the
competition. The East Bay Judo Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of Kodokan judo. The head instructor is Dr. David Matsumoto, 6-dan. For more information about classes and training, call 510-237-0607 or visit their website at www.ebji.org. Back
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