#JudoWorlds2018 Preview: The Debutants

Chelsie Giles -52kg

WRL 20

Age 21

Best Result in 2018: Antalya Grand Prix Silver

Coventry judoka Chelsie Giles might be making her World Championships debut but she’s no stranger to major championships at Senior level.

The 21-year-old fought at the 2017 European Judo Championships in Warsaw, Poland where she made the round of 16 before losing to Kosovo’s Olympic champion Majlinda Kelmendi.

Giles enjoyed a successful Junior career and she has transitioned well into Senior competition. After a number of seventh place finishes at Grand Slam and Grand Prix the four-time British champion won her first Grand Prix medal in Antalya in April.

The British fighter beat two World top twenty ranked judoka in Hungary’s Reka Pupp and Israel’s Betina Temelkova on her way to the final where she lost to Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo.

A second Grand Prix medal followed in August with bronze in Budapest. Giles claimed a big scalp in the bronze medal contest as she beat three-time World Championships medallist Andreea Chitu (ROU).

Giles will fight on the second day of competition in Baku on Friday 21 September.

Jemima Yeats-Brown -78kg

WRL 57

Age 23

Best Result in 2018: Rome European Open Gold

Yeats-Brown is always an exciting watch with her “honey badger don’t care” approach to fights.

The Ryecroft judoka’s World Championships debut comes six years after making her European Championships debut in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

The former Junior World bronze medallist moved up to -78kg in May this year at the Hohhot Grand Prix and she has already made an impact at her new weight.

In only her second competition at -78kg she won bronze at the Saarbrucken Senior European Cup. This result also meant that Yeats-Brown’s had now medalled at three different weight categories at Senior international level.

At the Budapest Grand Prix Yeats-Brown secured some of the biggest wins of her career to date with wins over then WRL 6 Marhinde Verkerk (NED) and WRL 16 Luise Malzahn (GER).

Yeats-Brown will fight on the sixth day of competition in Baku on Tuesday 25 September.

Stuart McWatt -81kg

WRL 40

Age 21

Best Result in 2018: Saarbrucken Senior European Cup Gold

Garioch Judo Club’s McWatt will be making his World Championships debut just over a year after a returning from a second ACL surgery.

The Scottish middleweight finished his Junior career last year with a bronze at the Junior European Team Championships and a fifth at the Junior World Championships.

McWatt has made a solid transition to Senior competition in 2018 with seventh place finishes at the Dusseldorf Grand Slam and Zagreb Grand Prix.

On both occasions the British judoka beat players ranked inside the World top twenty, Laszlo Csoknyai (HUN) and Vedat Albayrak (TUR).

The 21 year old has also won gold medals at the Saarbrucken and Bratislava Senior European Cup this year.

McWatt fights on the fourth day of competition in Baku on Sunday 23 September.