United States's Cynthia Paige Simon loses to Spain in women's 57kg judo quarter finals

August 31, 2012 London, England&mdash; The 's Cynthia Paige Simon was quickly pinned in her women's 57kg quarter-final match against Spain's Monica Merenciano Herrero at the ExCeL centre in the second day of Paralympics competition.

The first match of the competition for both competitors., Simon's previous best had been a third place finish in last year's Open; Merenciano Herrero's best previous finish was third at last year's Senior World Games.

-based coach Simon is a -classified competitor who competes for the Kokushikai club in the United States. These Games are her first.

In contrast, these are the third Games for the B2-classified Herrer, who competed in the 63kg class in in the 2004 Athens Games and the 57kg event in Beijing, earning a pair of bronze medals. Prior to the Games, she told superdeporte.es, "I hope I can repeat winning a medal, but this time the gold, that would be great."

Simon will continue on in the whilst Herrero advances to the semifinals.