The US competitors on the first day of the Judo grand slam event in Baku went 1-3 with no one advancing past the round of 32. Angelica Delgado lost in the first round of the women’s -52kg competition on penalties to Mi-Ri Kim of South Korea while Aaron Kunihiro lost his opening match to Kin Ting Yu of Hong Kong on an ippon. Adonis Diaz was able to win his opening match via ippon over Eisa Majrashi of Saudi Arabia. Diaz didn’t last long though as he lost in the second round to Arif Bagirov of Belarus by an ippon.

Saturday’s competition will involve both Leilani Akiyama and Hannah Martin in the women’s -63kg division and Nicholas Delpopolo in the men’s -73kg division.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Baku Preview

The second of five Judo grand slam events is this weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan. The US will have nine competitors in the field although none have advanced past the round of 16 at a grand slam or grand prix event so far this year.

On Friday competition will begin and the US will have Angelica Delgado competing in the women’s -52kg division and Aaron Kunihiro and Adonis Diaz both competing in the men’s -60kg division. Things will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the other six Americans competing.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Samsun Recap

Ajax Tadehara managed to advance one round in Samsun on Sunday winning his -100kg match against Aydn Caliskan or Turkey with an ippon before being defeated in the round of 16 by Maxim Rakov of Kazakhstan scoring a waza-ari and a yuko.

In the women’s +78kg division Nina Cutro-Kelly was defeated by Puerto Rican Melissa Mojica on a waza-ari. None of the four US women competing this weekend were able to win a match while US men were 2-4.

The Judo Grand Slam stop in Baku, Azerbaijan arrives on May 6th while in between the US Senior Nationals will be held in Irving, Texas on April 9th and 10th and the Pan American Judo Championships are in Havana April 27th through the 30th.

Day two for the US in Sansun went only slightly better than the first. Travis Stevens scored an ippon to defeat Hussein Al-Aameri of Iraq in the -81kg round of 32 before losing to a yuko by Robin Pacek of Sweden in the round of 16. In the -73kg division Nicholas Delpopolo dropped his round of 32 match to a yuko by Georgios Azoidis of Greece.

On the women’s side of things in the -63kg division two Americans took part but both were dispatched without a win. Leilani Akiyama lost to Ivana Komlosiova of Slovakia on a yuko while Hannah Martin’s match with Swede Mia Hermansson was scoreless and decided on penalties (three shidos to one favoring the Swede).

Things wrap up on Sunday with the Americans looking to have the first deep run of the tournament. Ajax Tadehara will take on Aydn Caliskan, competing in his home country of Turkey, in the -100kg round of 32. Finally Nina Cutro-Kelly will face an opponent as close to a countrywoman as it gets, Melissa Mojica of Puerto Rico, in the +78kg division. Cutro-Kelly is 3-2 against Mojica but this is the first time they will meet outside of Panamerican competitions. Tadehara and Caliskan are meeting for the first time.

The matches begin at 3 AM ET with the finals scheduled to begin at 10 AM ET. Free live streaming is available at ippon.tv.

Two Americans took part in the first day of the Judo Grand Prix event in Samsun, both against home-country Turkish opposition, and neither were able to get a win. Angelica Delgado lost to Irem Korkmaz in the -52kg division with the only scoring a waza-ari for Korkmaz. In the -60kg division Aaron Kunihiro didn’t last very long with his match over within a minute as eventual champion Bekir Ozlu scored an early ippon.

Saturday’s competition will see four more Americans take to the mat. In the -73kg division Nicholas Delpopolo will be starting off in the round of 32 against Georgios Azoidis of Greece while in the -81kg division Travis Stevens, who finished second earlier in the year in Havana, will start in the round of 32 against yet to be determined opposition. Delpopolo has beaten Azoidis in all three previous meetings.

Two US Women will be competing in the -63kg division, both starting in the round of 32. Hannah Martin will take on Swede Mia Hermansson while Leilani Akiyama, who reached the round of 16 in both Dusseldorf and Tbilisi earlier this year, takes on Ivana Komlosiova of Slovakia. Martin has met Hermansson on four occasions, losing all four, including a round of 32 matchup in Samsun last year.

The matches begin at 3 AM ET with the finals scheduled to begin at 10 AM ET. Free live streaming is available at ippon.tv.