13N144E:GuamJudoSilver

Blas earns silver medal: Guam judoka edged in final match at U.S. Open of Judo

By Ron Ige • Pacific Daily News • September 29, 2009

Guam judoka Ricardo “R.J.” Blas Jr. has resumed his pursuit of an Olympic medal.

 

Blas won a silver medal in the men’s plus-100 kilogram weight class at the U.S. Open of Judo Sept. 26 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. It was his first competition since the 2008 Olympic Games last August in Beijing, China.

Took year off

“I took a year off after Beijing. This is my first tournament back in the world circuit,” Blas said yesterday via telephone from San Jose. “I wasn’t expecting much out of the tournament. I spent a month and a half in Japan before this tournament. I felt good condition-wise, I performed well, I surprised (myself). I guess you don’t ever lose judo if you’re doing it that long.

“I started judo since 5; I never had a break, it’s all I ever did. Now I’m back in the game. I really want to try for one more Olympic Games and hopefully medal,” he said.

Blas had three matches at the U.S. Open before the final, all against U.S. contenders.

“In the first match, I beat the guy in 18 seconds. Threw him in harai goshi (sweeping hip throw). In the second one, I won in about 10 seconds. I got my position, and did an uchi mata (inner thigh throw). The last guy, I threw him in seven seconds flat — swept him and put him on his back,” he said.

The gold-medal match was a different story. His opponent was from France — he said he didn’t remember his name — and the match went the full 5 minutes. Blas was assessed a shido, a small penalty for preventing action, toward the end of the match, and that proved to be the difference.

“It was a run-around game, breaking grips, just trying to get a dominant grip,” Blas said.

Back to training

Blas said he would train in California and Portland, Ore., until he returns to Guam in November. He will then compete at the KRA Korea Open International Judo Tournament on Dec. 3.

“It’s one of the higher caliber tournaments, even higher than the U.S. Open. I just want to go in there and do my best. After that, I fly off to Hong Kong for the East Asian Games,” he said.

Blas said he’s on his own right now, training without a coach.

“I went out there and trained (for the U.S. Open) and came out with the mindset to win,” he said. “I’ve never wanted to qualify more for the (Olympics) than I do now.”

In order to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London, Blas said he’ll have to win a gold medal in his weight class at the 2012 Oceania Championships as well as rank in the International Judo Federation’s top 35 in his weight class.

In order to gain points for the IJF’s world rankings, he said he’d have to do well at IJF-certified tournaments from 2010 through the months leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

Blas said he’s using Olympic Solidarity funds to pay for his expenses to train for and attend these tournaments, but is trying to pick up sponsors.

“I’d like to thank the people of Guam for all their support,” he said. “I’ll do my best to represent in the next couple of tournaments.”