World Champion Kayla Harrison to head to Asia

Nov. 12, 2010 - PRLog -- BOSTON  - Kayla Harrison, the United States’ newest world judo champion, will be hitting the road next week for a series of tournaments and training camps in Asia.

Her first stop will be Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where she will fight alongside the United States team in the Grand Prix on Nov. 22-24.

From there, she will head straight to Japan for several weeks of training at Tsukuba University, including a training camp, before competing in the Grand Slam in Tokyo, Dec. 17 and 18. Afterward, she will head back to the United States.

Both tournaments offer points toward qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games, and are critical to the United States judo team.

Harrison admitted that being toward the end of the year, she is pretty exhausted. However, she noted the importance of these tournaments.

“I have to keep earning points toward an Olympic qualification,” she said. “Also, I have to keep fighting in as many tough matches as I can.”

The world champion said she’s been training very hard in recent months and believes both tournaments will offer her the tough fights she’s looking for. She also expect to get in “a lot of good training” while in Japan.

Upon conclusion of the Tokyo tournament, Harrison will fly to Los Angeles for media work and to conduct a seminar on Dec. 17 and expects to return home to Boston on Dec. 23.

She won’t get much of a break as she will also be teaching at a clinic in Atlanta in mid-January, before heading to Azerbaijan to fight in the World Masters, a tournament open to only players ranked in the top 16 in the world.  She will then compete in the Paris Grand Slam and a host of other world-level tournaments.

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About Kayla Harrison
Kayla Harrison won the world judo championships on September 9 in Tokyo, Japan, making her only the fourth world champion from the United States. Originally from Middletown, Ohio, she trains under the direction of 1999 World Judo Champion Jimmy Pedro at the Pedro Judo Center in Wakefield, Mass. She also receives support from the New York Athletic Club.