A group of American teens worked incredibly hard at the 2025 Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships to finish among the top competitors, and some of the best performers were from right here in SoCal.
Top U17 athletes from across the U.S. went to Lima, Peru, for the tournament, where they competed against athletes from 15 other countries in the Americas and Oceania.
Spanning across 16 weight classes (eight male, eight female), Team USA Cadets took home ten total medals, including two golds.
One of the gold medal winners was Kanta Ueyama, a Burbank native who competes in the +90 kg weight class and trains at LA Tenri Judo in Boyle Heights.
Ueyama entered his third Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships as a two-time silver medalist and the number two ranked competitor in the world for his weight class, according to USA Judo. He was able to claim gold with an ippon (instant win) against Argentine Edgar Molina in the semi-finals and a yuko (quarter-point) for the only point tallied in the finals against Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti of Canada.
Also nabbing a gold medal for their weight class was Amaris Bell of Pembroke Pines, Florida, who competed in the 44 kg class.
Southern California had a Cadet silver medalist, too, namely San Gabriel native Malia Manibog, who competes in the 48 kg weight class. It was her third straight silver medal at the event, USA Judo said.
The ten medals won by Team USA Cadets were enough to finish third at the Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships behind Brazil and Canada.
It doesn’t stop there, however; as the Team USA Juniors also finished with ten medals. Cadets for this competition were born between 2008 and 2010 while IJF Juniors were born between 2005-2010, and Juniors have two less weight classes.
And yes, a SoCal native was also among the Junior medalists: Jacob Yang of Los Angeles.
Yang, who competes with the USA Judo National Resident Team and trains at L.A. Judo Club in Arlington Heights, won silver and bronze in the men’s 66 kg division; it was his third straight year winning bronze. He was the Cadet world champion at last year’s event, according to USA Judo.
Manibog also earned a bronze medal in her Junior division debut in the 48 kg weight class.
Another California native, Oleksandr Nyzhnyk of Los Gatos, got a silver medal in the 90 kg division for the Juniors.
A full list of Cadet winners can be viewed here.
Click here to view the full list of Junior winners.
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