With a sudden venue change from Budapest to the United States, Garden City’s own Mark Staniszewski, along with teammates Ken Meadows (Babylon) and Maria DiDio (Farmingdale), packed their gear and headed off to the World Masters Judo Championships held Aug. 19-23 at the International Convention Center in Atlanta.
With a stacked heavyweight division and after losing a close opening match to Eduard Kudryavtsev of Russia, Staniszewski battled back through the brackets beating Csaba Fazekas of Hungry, Juan Santos (formally of the Venezulan National Team) and Marco Antonio Domingues of Brazil to capture a world bronze medal.
Named captain of Team USA, Staniszewski along with Ken Meadows went on to capture a team bronze, tying with Russia. Maria Didio had 12 matches in all earning three medals for the U.S. These athletes currently train at the Combat Club in Massapequa. Read more about them at www.CombatFightClub.net.
