Team USA on the Road to Gold at the Junior and Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships in Rio

(Colorado Springs, CO) – The top U20 and U17 from throughout North and South America and Oceania will battle for gold in Rio de Janeiro this week at the Junior and Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships.

2024 Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championship Live Results

2024 Junior Pan Am-Oceania Championship Results

The action begins on Monday with the Cadet (U17) competition where 20 athletes will compete in eight men’s and women’s weight categories and continues on Tuesday with 17 athletes competing in seven weight categories in the U20 event.

Not only will athletes fight for gold, but the Junior event will serve as the second qualifier for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games.

With many members of the 2023 Cadet Team ageing out, this year’s squad features 11 first-time team members looking to prove themselves and earn world rankings during the leadup to the 2024 Cadet World Championships in August in Lima, Peru.

Team USA is led by seven returning medalists from the 2023 Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships.

Sixteen-year-olds Anthony Farnot (Lehigh Acres, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) and Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, NY / Colton Brown Training Center) won the 73 kg and 90 kg titles last year, respectively. Now ranked No. 1 in the world, Farnot will return to defend his title while Liubimovski has moved up to +90 kg where he won a bronze at the Berlin Cadet European Cup last weekend.

One of Liubimovski’s opponents will be Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, CA / LA Tenri Dojo) – the 15-year-old who won silver at this tournament last year and is coming off a gold medal win at the Varadero Cadet Pan Am Cup earlier this month.

Fifteen-year-old Malia Manibog (San Gabriel, CA / San Gabriel Judo) is coming into this event as a silver medalist at 44 kg and is seeking to improve on her 2023 finish this week.

Two members of Team USA have moved up after bronze medal wins here in 2023.

Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club) took bronze at 55 kg and has now moved up to the 60 kg division where the 16-year-old won silver at the 2023 Senior National Championships.

Seventeen-year-old Alexander Prado (Coral Springs, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) moved up from 60 kg to 66 kg and enters into the Pan Ams with a cadet gold medal from Varadero.

The junior event features seven returning Junior Pan Am medalists as well, and will serve as a seeding event for this year’s Junior Worlds in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Dominic Rodriguez (Lehigh Acres, FL / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) won Senior Pan Ams as a 17-year-old in 2022 in the 73 kg division and holds three Cadet Pan Am titles. However, after bronze medal finishes at 73 kg in 2023 and 81 kg in 2021, Rodriguez is seeking a position on the top of the podium for the first time in the junior event.

Seventeen-year-old Nicole Cancela (Coral Springs, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) won gold at her first Junior Pan Ams in 2021 in the 52 kg division and is seeking to repeat the title this year after moving up to 57 kg.

Harlee Hiller (Evanston, IL / Cohen Brothers Judo) won back-to-back silver medals in the 48 kg junior category in 2022 and 2023, but the 17-year-old has now moved up to 52 kg where she will make her international debut.

Liubimovski is one of three athletes who will fight in both the junior and cadet categories, but he rose to the challenge last year, winning junior silver after his cadet gold and will be a contender for a medal in both the junior 100 kg and cadet +90 kg categories.

A two-time Cadet Pan Am Champion, 17-year-old Shavon Gonzalez (West Palm Beach, FL / USA Judo National Resident Training Center Team) won bronze at the 2022 and 2023 Junior Pan Ams in the 70 kg category. Gonzalez moved down to 63 kg at the Youth Nationals and finished third in the lighter weight, but her past success in the division afforded her a wild card at 70 kg where she is aiming for a third Junior Pan Am medal.

Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) finished in fifth-place at the 2023 Cadet Worlds in her final year of eligibility and is now ranked No. 4 in the world in the junior 63 kg category. The 17-year-old won bronze in 2022 and 2023 and has her eyes set on gold this year.

Nineteen-year-old Jacob Yang (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club) won both junior and cadet bronze at the 2022 Pan Ams and will be a favorite for the 66 kg podium in Rio.

Cadet Men’s 50 kg
Jebin Lee (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club)

Cadet Women’s 44 kg
Malia Manibog (San Gabriel, CA / San Gabriel Judo Dojo)

Cadet Men’s 55 kg
Henry Parsadanian (North Hollywood, CA / Hayastan Judo)

Cadet Women’s 48 kg
Zoe Dempsey (New Lenox, IL / Cohen Brothers Judo)

Cadet Men’s 60 kg
Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club)

Cadet Women’s 52 kg
Ellianna Abbott (Rayne, LA / Louisiana Judo)
Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)

Cadet Men’s 66 kg
Alexander Prado (Coral Springs, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)

Cadet Women’s 57 kg
Anel Smanova (Brooklyn, NY / Colton Brown Training Center)

Cadet Men’s 73 kg
Anthony Farnot (Lehigh Acres, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Heinrich Hanada (Bethesda, MD)

Cadet Women’s 63 kg
Jayda Fulp (Fort Worth, TX / Chandler Judo Academy)
Dakota Hull (Northglenn, CO / Hyland Hills Judo)

Cadet Men’s 81 kg
Daniel Shulgin (Philadelphia, PA / Yawara Force)

Cadet Women’s 70 kg
Kaiya Johnston (Queens Creek, AZ / Shogun Judo)
Chloe Williams (Stafford, VA / Wall 2 Wall Martial Arts)

Cadet Men’s 90 kg
Vladimir Manukyan (Santa Clarita, CA / Olymp Fight Club)

Cadet Women’s +70 kg
Mackenzie Schultz (Daleville, AL / Black Ice Judo)

Cadet Men’s +90 kg
Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, NY / Colton Brown Training Center)
Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, CA / LA Tenri Judo)

Junior Women’s 48 kg
Natalie Pino (Hialeah, FL / Budokan Judo School)

Junior Men’s 60 kg
Christopher Velazco (Coral Springs, FL / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club)

Junior Women’s 52 kg
Harlee Hiller (Evansville, IL / Cohen Brothers Judo)

Junior Men’s 66 kg
Jacob Yang (Los Angeles, CA / LA Judo Club)

Junior Women’s 57 kg
Nicole Cancela (Coral Springs, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)

Junior Men’s 73 kg
Steven Boldbaatar (Bellevue, WA / Washington Judo Academy)

Junior Women’s 63 kg
Mackenzee Bunton (Frisco, TX / Eastside Dojo)
Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, FL / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)

Junior Men’s 81 kg
Dominic Rodriguez (Lehigh Acres, FL / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)

Junior Women’s 70 kg
Shavon Gonzalez (West Palm Beach, FL / USA Judo National Resident Training Center Team)
Nancy Nguyen (San Jose, CA / San Jose State University Judo)

Junior Men’s 90 kg
Oleksandr Nyzhnyk (Los Gatos, CA / Nakano Judo Academy)

Junior Women’s 78 kg
Mackenzie Schultz (Daleville, AL / Black Ice Judo)

Junior Men’s 100 kg
Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, NY / Colton Brown Training Center)

Zalman Zucker (Palo Alto, CA)

Junior Men’s +100 kg
Armen Akojyan (Glendale, CA / Glendale Judo Academy)