EBJI at 2010 Albany Invitational

October 17, 2010- Albany, CA

Members of East Bay Judo Institute participated in the 2010 Albany Invitational on October 17, 2010 at Albany High School.

Leading the way for EBJI members was Masashi Matsumoto, who went 4-1 to win the gold medal. En route to the gold, Masa won all 4 of his matches by ippon, before losing to teammate Jackson Kim.

Kiavash Garakani also won gold in his division winning all his matches by ippon. Kiavash, who splits his time between EBJI and Cupertino Judo Club has been coming to EBJI’s advanced class for several months.

Several EBJI members won silver medals:

Takashi Matsumoto went 1-1 to win the silver medal in his category. Taka won his first match by ippon with taiotoshi.

Jackson Kim went 2-2 to win the silver medal in the same division as Masa. Jackson won his matches by showing his newaza skills, pinning 2 of his opponents for ippon.

Satoshi Matsumoto had an impressive day going 2-1 to win silver. In his first match, Sato threw teammate Leo Labadie in golden score for ippon with osotogari. In his second match, Sato won again with osotogari, throwing his opponent for ippon.

Several EBJI members won bronze:

Nathaniel Attia of the beginning kids class went 1-2 to win bronze. Nathaniel won his last match by ippon with osotogari.

Jared Beane competed in the senior men’s black belt division and went 2-2 to take bronze.

Other EBJI members also gained valuable experience for the future and added some more wins for EBJI:

Nico Gonzalez participated in his second tournament and went 2-2, throwing 2 of his opponents for ippon with osotogari.

Estefany Gonzalez also participated in her second tournament and went 1-3, throwing her first opponent with haraigoshi for ippon.

Brandon Izzo also went 2-2 in the intermediate purple belt division. Along the way, Brandon threw 2 of his opponents with ouchigari and osotogari for ippon.

Instructors Yukako Taketani, Ken Kokka Sensei and Sayaka Matsumoto Sensei went along to coach the athletes.