Boxing, World Series of Boxing

USA Knockouts Season Comes to an End as Mexico Grabs Last Playoff Spot

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The Mexico Guerreros needed a win at home against the unbeaten British Lionhearts and they got one 4-1 to move back in front of the United States and grab the second and final playoff spot from Group B. The 4-1 loss in Mexico by the US just over a week ago and the season opening 3-2 loss to the Lionhearts in mid-January ended up being the missed opportunities the US will wish they had back. That loss to the Lionhearts included a heavyweight bout between Cam Awesome and Lawrence Okolie that ended in a split decision loss for Awesome that did not featuring a single round where the three judges were in agreement. Just a single round score being flipped from Okolie to Awesome in that bout would have made the difference between the USA advancing to face Cuba and seeing their season end.

For those boxers from the USA Knockouts who won the US Olympic Trials and have a chance to compete in Rio but have not yet secured a place through international qualifying they will turn their focus back to trying to reach Rio. The major qualifying event looming is the AOB World Qualifier in Baku, Azerbaijan June 14-26.  The USA Knockouts will hopefully be in action again during a 7th season of the World Series of Boxing beginning in late 2016 or early 2017.

Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix

No American Able to Reach Quarterfinals in Sansun Through Two Days of Judo Grand Prix Stop

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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.

Shooting

Five Olympic Shooting Spots to be Determined Over Next Week in Ft. Benning, Georgia

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While a few athletes having clinched spots during the last year of international competition, most the USA Shooting team is still yet to be selected. Starting Saturday in Ft. Benning, Georgia five more spots on the USA Shooting Oympic team will be determined. Competitions to determine the Olympian in the women’s three-position rifle, the men’s prone rifle, and the men’s free pistol will run from Saturday through Monday while competitions in the women’s sport pistol and the men’s rapid fire pistol run Wednesday through Friday. Each competition consists of three days of qualifying followed by daily finals competition with cumulative scores being used to decide the representative. Qualifying is at 9 AM ET daily with finals beginning at 1 PM ET.

The women’s three-position rifle competition is the most crowded with 16 competitors taking part. The men’s prone rifle follows closely with 15 competitors while the men’s free pistol competition has just nine.

Boxing, World Series of Boxing

USA Knockouts Sweep Morocco Atlas Lions, Pressure on Mexico to Grab Final Playoff Spot

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A dominant night for the USA Knockouts in Miami has set them up in good position to make the playoffs. The USA got knockouts from lightweight Carlos Balderas over Rabii Hamza in the second round, light heavyweight Jonathan Esquivel over Hassan Saada in the third round, and super heavyweight Marlo Moore over Ahmed Bourous in the first round. Antonio Vargas swept every round from Achraf Kharroubi in the flyweight division. The most surprising result of the night was Paul Kroll defeating defending welterweight champion Mohammed Rabii 48-46 on all three scorecards.

Because the USA swept the night they went back ahead of the Mexico Guerreros with ten points to Mexico’s nine and most importantly with 16 bouts won in the pool they will have the tiebreaker over Mexico if the Guerreros were to get a single point from a 3-2 loss at the British Lionhearts on Saturday. That means the only way Mexico can take the last playoff spot from Group B is by becoming the first team to defeat the Lionhearts this year.

If the Knockouts do make the playoffs they would take on the Cuba Domadores in a tantalizing ten-bout quarterfinal matchup in Cuba on April 22nd and 23rd.

Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix

USA 0-2 on First Day of Judo Grand Prix in Samsun

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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.

Boxing, Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix, World Series of Boxing

The Melting Pot: USA Knockouts in Action Tonight in Miami

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USA Knockouts vs. Morocco Atlas Lions

The USA Knockouts had a chance to lock up a spot in the playoffs last week when they faced the Mexico Guerreros in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Things did not go according to plan and after losing four of the five bouts the USA now needs to get a win against Morocco on Friday and help from group winners the British Lionhearts who are facing the Guerreros in Mexico on Saturday. If the USA wins and Mexico loses 4-1 or 5-0 the USA advances. If Mexico loses 3-2 and the USA wins 4-1 or 5-0 that would also be enough for the USA to advance. If Mexico loses 3-2 while the USA wins 3-2 that’s when things get complicated and the tiebreaker would take a bit of work to sort out.

Friday’s matchup is using the C2 weight classes (Flyweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, Light Heavyweight, and Super Heavyweight) where the USA split their two previous matches this year and the ten combined bouts. Morocco is winless this year but only lost 3-2 in both of the C2 matchups.

Friday’s matchups are… (season records in parentheses)
Flyweight – Antonio Vargas (1-0) vs. Achraf Kharroubi
Lightweight – Carlos Balderas (1-0) vs. Hamza Rabii
Welterweight – Paul Kroll (0-1) vs. Mohammed Rabii (1-0)
Light Heavyweight – Jonathan Esquivel (1-0) vs. Hassan Saada (1-0)
Super Heavyweight – Marlo Moore vs. Ahmed Bourous (0-1)

There is a free live stream of the match at http://www.dailymotion.com/worldseriesboxing with the action set to being at 8:30 PM ET. There is also a good preview of the bouts on the World Series of Boxing website.

Judo Grand Prix – Samsun

The Judo Grand Prix hits the Turkish town of Samsun this weekend and four American men and four American women will be taking part. On day one Angelica Delgado will be looking to advance past the Round of 32 in the -52kg division for the first time in 2016 while Aaron Kunihiro will try to do the same in the men’s -60kg division.

Later in the weekend the American lineup contains Travis Stevens, who finished second in Havana, competing on Saturday. Additionally Nina Cutro-Kelly, who was seventh in Havana, will compete on Sunday.

CONCACAF Champions League, Soccer

LA Galaxy Failed to Advance in Mexico Last Night, Can Sporting KC Or The San Jose Earthquakes Break The Curse Tonight?

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Previous CONCACAF Champions League Coverage

The LA Galaxy didn’t need a win last night in Mexico but they needed to play well. Going down 3-0 inside of the first 25 minutes doesn’t qualify. A brutal start to the game that saw mistakes all around dug a hole too deep for the Galaxy to find their way out of and their hopes of advancing in the CONCACAF Champions League came to an end. They did manage to score a goal to start the second half to get within a goal of advancing but a Tijuana goal with eight minutes left proved to be decisive. The Galaxy did fight back for one more but never could get the tie back on level terms and ending up falling 4-2 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.

Tonight our attention turns to the San Jose Earthquakes and Sporting KC. The Earthquakes are taking on Toluca and are heavy underdogs to advance in Mexico. Toluca was 4-0 in the group stage and sit second in Liga MX so far this spring. The Earthquakes have a lot of work to do after only drawing 1-1 at home. They have to score in Mexico tonight to have any chance and can’t afford to lose. With a win seeming hard to fathom the path for the Earthquakes is likely a scoring draw that leads to penalties (1-1 tie) or perhaps scoring twice and winning in regulation in a draw. It will take a herculean effort tonight in Mexico but perhaps the Earthquakes are the ones to do it.

Sporting KC has a much easier path against Cruz Azul, but the opponent may be even harder. Cruz Azul was also 4-0 in the group stage and they lead Liga MX right now. Still Sporting knows they can get a result as they did in Kansas City last week, though Mexico is another story. A draw would be enough for Sporting KC and they could even advance on a one-goal loss if they score.

The Galaxy showed several things last night in their loss at Tijuana. They showed how important it is to come out of the gate strong and not give up early goals. Sporting KC has the advantage heading into this game so they can play from the lead as long as they keep the clean sheet. Secondly we saw how big an away goal is. The Galaxy were AWFUL in the first half but their goal to start the second half instantly transformed the game and they were one bounce going the right way from advancing. If Sporting KC can score tonight Cruz Azul will need three to move on and that might be asking a lot.

Both games are on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) back-to-back so it should be an exciting night of USA vs. Mexico soccer.

My predictions: San Jose 0-2 Toluca … Sporting KC 1-2 Cruz Azul

Schedule:

  • March 19th
    • 8 PM ET – San Jose Earthquakes @ Toluca (Mexico) – Fox Sports 2
    • 10 PM ET – Sporting KC @ Cruz Azul (Mexico) – Fox Sports 2
ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Seven Americans Including Madison Keys and Alison Riske In Sony Open First Round Today

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Previous Sony Open Coverage 

The Sony Open kicks into high gear today as qualifying is over and the singles draws start in full force. Two Americans did play in the first round yesterday with Varvara Lepchenko getting a win 7-5, 6-1 over Yanina Wickmayer and Bethanie Mattek-Sands seeing her tournament end quickly after a 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 loss to Elina Svitoina, a tough opening round draw for Mattek-Sands.

Womens Singles - 3-19-14

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Four of the seven Americans (Madison Keys, Alison Riske, Vania King, and Victoria Duval) are taking on qualifiers and are the higher ranked player in their matchup. Coco Vandeweghe, who emerged from qualifying for the US, takes on Marina Erakovic and is the underdog. That leaves two other matchups that are worth highlighting. Lauren Davis, who had such a great BNP Paribas Open before coming down with food poisoning in the round of 16, takes on Shuai Zhang. Zhang is one of the best unseeded players in the field so this is a tough first round matchup for Davis. Hopefully Davis can continue her strong form from Indian Wells and have another strong week. The other interesting matchup is Christina McHale and Jie Zheng. Both are ranked in the mid-50s so that has all the look of a really good battle.

Schedule:

  • March 19th – 11 AM-11 PM ET – Tennis Channel
    • Women’s First Round
      • 11 AM ET – Lauren Davis vs. Shuai Zhang – Court 1 – ESPN3.com – First ever meeting
      • 11 AM ET – Vania King vs. Estrella Cabeza Candela – First ever meeting
      • Approx 1 PM ET – Victoria Duval vs. Kiki Bertens – Bertens leads 1-0 all-time
      • Approx 3 PM ET – Coco Vandeweghe vs. Marina Erakovic – First ever meeting
      • Approx 3 PM ET – Christina McHale vs. Jie Zheng – Stadium – ESPN3.com – First ever meeting
      • Approx 7 PM ET – Alison Riske vs. Nadiya Kichenok – Court 1 – ESPN3.com – First ever meeting
      • Approx 9:30 PM ET – Madison Keys vs. Anett Kontaveit – Stadium – ESPN3.com – First ever meeting
Curling, World Championships

The Melting Pot: Tough Couple Days Has US in Trouble at World Women’s Curling Championship

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Remember when the US was 3-0? It was only 48 hours ago but things have changed a lot since then. A tough Monday saw the US lose 8-5 to Sweden and 9-3 to Canada (two teams that are both now 6-1).

Then on Tuesday the US started off with Russia and a good close match. The US took a 4-3 lead after stealing one in the sixth end and after a Russian deuce evened it at 5-5 in the eighth. Russia did take the lead 6-5 but the US was in position in the tenth end with the hammer to either win the match or send it to an extra end. Instead they allowed Russia to steal another deuce to grab the 8-5 win. Russia is now 5-2 after seven matches.

To end the day the US took on Switzerland and fell behind 6-0 after a disastrous first four ends. The Swiss never held the hammer but scored two in ends one and four and singles in between. The US rebounded to close to 7-6 going into the final end but couldn’t complete the comeback. The Swiss are the third team to sit at 6-1, it was a brutal stretch in the schedule and the US couldn’t get a win in there.

So now the US sits in seventh at 3-4 with four matches left. Only the top four advance to the playoffs so the US would need to catch all of those teams currently two games ahead. Looking at the US schedule remaining it’s probably doable to go 4-0. The Czech Republic and Latvia, tomorrow’s opponents, are both 1-6 while the US faces Scotland (2-5) and Korea (5-2) on the final day.

The question is whether those there 5-2 teams will lose a couple games the rest of the way. Korea obviously still faces the US and also has Canada still to come. China and Russia still face each other with China also facing Canada and Sweden. Russia also faces Switzerland. If the 6-1 teams (Canada, Sweden, Switzerland) all win their matchups against the 5-2 teams and the US wins out the only other result the US would need is China defeating Russia. It’s certainly not the wildest scenario to see the US in a tiebreaker.

But it won’t happen unless the US plays better tomorrow against the Czech Republic and Latvia. All they can do is do their part and hope for some results in other matches that go their way.

Schedule:

  • March 19th
    • 8:30 AM ET – USA vs. Czech Republic
    • 6:30 PM ET – USA vs. Latvia
CONCACAF Champions League, Soccer

LA Galaxy Will Try to Be First MLS Team To Advance In Mexico In CONCACAF Champions League

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It’s been a tough task for MLS teams heading to Mexico trying to move on in the CONCACAF Champions League. Never before has a team gone to Mexico and gotten the result to advance. We have seen an American team get a result on home soil to advance (Seattle over UANL last year) but the holy grail is still going to Mexico in the second leg and doing enough to move on.

Tonight the LA Galaxy get a chance to end that when they make the short trek down the coast to Tijuana. The Galaxy hold a 1-0 lead on aggregate so they don’t even need to win tonight, a draw would be enough. The Galaxy will be surely looking for an early away goal which would mean that Tijuana needs three to advance.

Last year the Galaxy advanced to the semifinals but were beaten 2-1 in Los Angeles before losing 1-0 at Monterrey. Next year they will not be taking part, so the pressure is on to try and advance further this year.

MLSSoccer.com has a preview of the game. It should be an exciting one and the great news is that it’s on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) at 10 PM ET.

Prediction: A 1-1 tie that sees Los Angeles advance.

Covering America's Athletes