Coach Jimmy Pedro looks forward to Wednesday and beyond

Jimmy Pedro was the world champion for USA in 1999 in Birmingham. Jimbo-nuts won his first bronze in 1991 at U65kg, he finished fifth in 1995 and followed up with a medal in 1995, taking bronze in U71kg. At Olympic level he won bronze at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 U71kg, and finished fifth in Sydney 2000. After he had retired he got the vibe again and qualified for the Athens Olympic Game and took bronze U73kg. One of his rivals was Vitaly Makarov, now the successful coach of Russia.

On Wednesday is "his" category and we asked him what his favourite judo player is.

“A good question… hmmm…. I like Mansur Isaev. He was with us in the United States for four weeks and I got to know him very well. He has a good personality, is a good guy and a good judo player, friendly guy and I always follow him in his fights.”

What are your chances with team USA? Where are the medal favourites?

“We hope to come home with some medals. We have big chances at U81kg, U78kg and U57kg we have good chances.

U81kg: Travis Stevens has had some problems, basically it’s water in the knee but the doctor says he’s going to be fine.

Kayla’s toughest match in U78kg will be the quarter final against Mayra Aguiar, they are the numbers 1 and 3 of the last World Championships and Kayla is this year’s number one. Normally this would be the world final, but now they meet in the quarter final. Kayla has just beaten her at the Pan American Games in the final, it was close but those girls go back and forth, but Kayla is ready. Mentally and physically, she’s ready.

Last year Marti Malloy beat Matsumoto last year in her first fight at Chelyabinsk 2014.

"This year she has a tough draw again. She has a long road and she will face North Korean Ri and Korean Kim, Marti lost to them both. But we have a good game plan. Her preparation is really good and her mind is where it needs to be. So hopefully she can get to the final."