Judo talent Ronda Rousey goes for the Gold

No USA athlete advanced to the Sunday's final session the second day of the Junior World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The Junior World Championships are for athletes under 20 years of age. This year's event sees a total of 61 different countries, 224 men and 172 women.

The best finish for the USA was ninth place by Kenny Hashimoto (Thornton, Colo., Northglenn Judo Club) in the men's 60 kg category. Hashimoto went 2-2 beating Yulin Li of China and Dan Fasie of Romania before falling to Pavel Petrikov of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal. In the consolation round, he needed one win to advance to Sunday's final session, but lost to Rza Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

Today's competition will feature Ronda Rousey (Venice Judo, CA/Pedro's, MA, Santa Monica, CA) who will compete in the women's 63kg category for USA's only chance at a medal. Ronda will face Irina Gromova of Russia. If she wins that match, she'll play the winner of Mao of China vs. Wetzer of the Netherlands for the gold medal; if she loses she'll play the winner of Cachola of Portugal vs. Bolshak of Ukraine for the Bronze medal.

Background on the Junior Worlds:

The Junior World Championship is the pinnacle of the sport for athletes under 20 years of age. As many as 100 countries have attended past events, which showcase the world's best up-and-coming athletes as well as athletes who are already Olympians, including USA's Ronda Rousey (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Nicole Kubes (Fort Worth, Texas), both of whom competed in Athens in August. At 17 years old, Ronda was the youngest player in the entire Olympic Judo event and Nicole was the next youngest, just 6 months older than Ronda. Both finished in ninth place. USA's representative at 60 kgs is Kenny Hashimoto (Thornton, Colo.) who was the Olympic alternate at that weight.

Five other USA Olympians have won medals at the Junior World Championships: Joey Wanag (New Jersey) 1992 Olympian, who won bronze in 1983, Lilko Ogasawara (San Jose, Calif.), 1996 Olympian, who won bronze in 1990, Jason Morris (Scotia, New York) 1992 Olympic silver medallist and four-time Olympian, who won bronze in 1986, Jimmy Pedro (Methuen, Mass.) two-time Olympic bronze medallist (1996, 2004), 1999 World Champion, and four-time Olympian, who won bronze in 1990, and Hillary Wolf (Colo. Springs), two-time Olympian, who in 1994 became the only American to ever win the Junior World Championship.