MIAMI

Hey folks I thought it was about time I fill you in on my latest situation.
Well i am sitting in my hotel room in Miami at 5:30 am because as usual I am suffering from a bit of insomnia.
Before coming to Miami I competed last weekend in the NSW Open. It was only 6 days after Oceania and not ideal but considering I am still trying to catch up on points from the 6 months i missed last year I had to compete.
The competition went well, i won my preliminary, quarter final and semi all by ippon after having thrown with wazari already and I felt jaded but Judo was good.
In the final I had my clubmate Ryosuke Miwa. We had fought twice before and gone to decision both times (1 win, 1 loss). This time I came out and threw him for wazari with 1 sided kata guruma after 30 seconds. I kept applying pressure and came close with a few more attacks. For the first time in 3 weeks I felt fast, fluid and comfortable, then he slid under me for drop seio and got me for ippon!
Frustration is an almighty understatement for how I felt. However looking back at my previous 2 competitions where I won gold but didn't feel or fight great I am actually pretty positive this time.

We (australian team) arrived last night in Miami after about 30 hours of travel and settled in to our hotel. Its very, very nice and has everything we need here which makes life easier.
I managed to get internet access and found out that the IJF has updated the World Ranking List and I slot in at NUMBER 33 in the WORLD!
I am hoping that is high enough to be seeded here and make my life a little easier.
My body feels pretty good right now and I am really looking forward to competing at this level again. I feel I have made serious progress in recent months and can't wait to put it all together and notch up some Olympic Qualification Points.

If anyone wants to follow the results they should be available live at ippon.org

Ivo