“This tournament was really special for me,” Moontasri said. “I love being in Brazil, the crowd really brought me so much energy. Angel is a great, great fighter, he won the 2000 Olympics and I have so much respect for him. He’s an excellent champion.”

Moontasri opened the competition in a first round contest with Jason Tuitt (Virgin Islands), and controlled the match from the start. He scored his opening kick at the 1:35 mark of the bout and landed two more scoring shots in the first round to take a 3-0 lead after two minutes of action. Moontasri held Tuitt scoreless throughout the fight, going up 5-0 in the first 15 ticks of the second round. He moved out a 7-0 advantage at the :23 mark of the second to take the bout on superiority and advance to the quarterfinals.

“James is really a special kid and he believes in himself, he has a lot of self-confidence. The first one wasn’t a great match-up for him, but it was great warm up fight and he still dominated him,” Coach Kevin Padilla said.

With one win under his belt, Moontasri faced off with Carlos Vasquez of Venezuela in quarterfinal competition. The bout was technical from the start with both players looking for an opening, and the first round ended in a scoreless tie. Moontasri finally found the opening he was looking for late in the first minute of the second round, to go up 1-0, a lead, which he would take into the second round. He moved out to a 2-0 lead 20 seconds into the second round, but the pace remained slow. Vasquez pulled to within 2-1, but the referee took a point from the Venezuelan with 15 seconds remaining in the bout. Moontasri went on to win a 2-0 final decision and a berth in the medal rounds.

”I actually thought he fought Venezuela just as well as Steven Lopez did at World Championships, if not better. That’s because of Dartfish and our scouting, I’ve watched this Venezuelan for a long time,” Padilla said. “I know him really well and James listened to everything that I said, he’s very coach-able. The difference is that we were on the same page when we were in the ring. It was a beautiful match, that guy was a good player and James just stepped up to another level in his career.”

Moontasri battled Chinedum Osuji of Trinidad in his semifinal match-up and once again the bout opened in a slow, technical fashion. It was the American landing the first blow, with Moontasri scoring the lone point of the first round with just under 30 seconds remaining. Moontasri began the second with a successful kick to the head in the opening seconds of the round to move out to a 3-0 lead. He added to his advantage later in the round, and after the referee took a point from both competitors due to inactivity, Moontasri enjoyed a four-point lead as the final two minutes began. Neither athlete landed a scoring kick in the last round and Moontasri went on to win a three to negative one decision and a berth in the championship bout.

Moontasri’s championship bout featured a match-up with 2000 Olympic gold medalist Matos, and the Cuban struck first. Matos landed a blow to head late in the first round, and added a kick in the final seconds to take a 3-0 lead after one round. Moontasri looked to record his first kick in the second round, but Matos doubled his advantage to take a 6-0 lead after two. He landed the winning kick with 42 seconds remaining in the match to move out to a 7-0 lead and win on superiority.

“Obviously the finals didn’t go the way I wanted them to,” Moontasri said. “But I weighed in 10 pounds light at the weigh-ins, and a silver medal isn’t bad for a 19-year-old. This really helps to build my confidence and hopefully next time I can take the gold.”

Moontasri wasn’t the only U.S. athlete competing in Monday’s action, Jade Lopez (Union City, Calif.) faced off with Puerto Rico’s Asuncion Ocasio in her first bout of the Pan American Games. Ocasio scored first in the bout, landing an defensive kick to take a 1-0 lead after the first round. Lopez tied it at one in the second with an offensive kick, but Ocasio recorded two more points in the second round to take a 3-1 lead into the third. The Puerto Rican moved out to a 4-2 lead in the final round, but after giving Ocasio two warnings, the referee took a point from her to pull the bout to 3-2 with under a minute remaining. Lopez looked to make up her deficit, but fell short and dropped a 3-2 decision.

“Jade’s a great kid, she’s very strong. She worked hard the whole week for me, but she made some errors that we were clear about,” Coach Kevin Padilla said. “It was a very close match and I think she can work on managing the ring better. She’s a strong, young athlete, she kicks like a man and she just needs to connect to that. The stuff that she did well, she did great. I’m not completely disappointed, but I still hate losing. I think she could have beat that player.”

Men’s and women’s middle/heavyweight action will close taekwondo competition at the 2007 Pan American Games on Tuesday. Antony Graf (Miami, Fla.) and Lauren Cahoon (Miami, Fla.) will both look to add to the medal count when they complete in Tuesday’s action at the Riocentro Sports Complex.

Final Standings

Women’s/-67 kg
1. Karine Sergerie, Canada
2. Heidy Juarez, Guatemala
3. Asuncion Ocasio, Puerto Rico
4. Nohemar Neal, Venezuela
7. Jade Lopez, USA

Men’s/-80 kg
1. Angel Matos, Cuba
2. James Moontasri, USA
3. Jose Luis Ramirez, Mexico
4. Chinedum Osuji, Trinidad