{"id":4734,"date":"2025-10-17T08:04:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=4734"},"modified":"2025-10-17T08:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:05:48","slug":"vargas-ley-chases-a-pan-american-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/vargas-ley-chases-a-pan-american-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Vargas Ley Chases a Pan-American Double"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top seed Maria Celia Laborde of the USA will look to turn her seventh-place finish in Lima into a podium result this time in the -48kg category at the Guadalajara Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American judoka is eager to return to winning ways. If all goes as planned, she could meet Israel’s Tamar Malca in the semi-final, Malca having taken bronze in Peru and coming to Mexico with strong momentum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all eyes will be on Mary Dee Vargas Ley of Chile. Silver medallist in Qingdao in China last September and gold medallist just last week in Lima, the Chilean veteran, one of the most active judoka on the circuit, is in sparkling form. Her projected semi-final could come against Eva Perez Soler of Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a frustrating fifth place in the men’s -60kg in Lima, Michel Augusto of Brazil will be determined to make amends and turn his experience into gold. Following an opening round against Ariel Shulman of Israel, he could cross paths with Marton Andrasi Hungary, fifth at the recent World Championships in Budapest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the lower half of the draw, France will be represented by Enzo Jean and Maxime Merlin, both capable of causing upsets despite not being among the top seeds. The main threats, however, are Cuban Jonathan Charon and Azerbaijan’s Balabay Aghayev. With the field this open, anything could happen.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disappointed by her fifth place in Lima in the women’s -52kg, Ayumi Leiva Sanchez of Spain will have had time to adapt and reset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the number one seed here in Guadalajara, she will be eager to strengthen her world ranking and climb back onto the podium. Canadian Evelyn Beaton who finished seventh in Peru, needs just one win to reach the semi-finals. Meanwhile, 2021 world medallist Gefen Primo of Israel will aim to bounce back after an off week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the one everyone will be watching is Brazilian Jessica Lima, the Lima gold medallist, who has a real chance to achieve back-to-back victories.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daikii Boubaof France, currently ranked eighth in the world in the men’s -66kg, is a consistent force on the World Judo Tour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With silver medals from the Masters and three grand slam finals, along with a grand prix bronze, he arrives in Mexico focused on finally converting silver into gold. Among his main rivals, Finland’s Luukas Saha, bronze medallist at the 2024 World Championships in Abu Dhabi, stands out as a major contender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazilian Ronald Lima and Azerbaijan’s Ruslan Pashayev, both in strong form, could also shake up the competition and continue their successful Pan-American runs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the two French finalists from Lima, only Amandine Buchard of France made the trip to Mexico. Once again competing at the women’s \u201357 kg, for the second consecutive week, Buchard will be looking to continue her strong form, though she admitted on social media that the transfer from Peru to Mexico was somewhat chaotic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout her Mexican campaign, she is likely to meet several familiar faces, including the two Brazilians Shirlen Nascimento and Jessica Lima, whom she will face right from the opening round, a strong test to start the day. Timna Nelson Levy of Israel will of course be one to watch, as well as Croatian Ana Viktorija Puljiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stage is set in Guadalajara. New challenges, familiar faces and the same relentless pursuit of excellence await. With its passion, colour and energy, Mexico once again becomes the beating heart of the World Judo Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top seed Maria Celia Laborde of the USA will look to turn her seventh-place finish in Lima into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-4734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-judo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley-300x265.jpg",300,265,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg",640,566,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mary-Dee-Vargas-Ley.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4737,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4734\/revisions\/4737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}