GB Judo Preview: Baku Grand Slam & Zagreb Cadet European Cup

Alice Schlesinger will be the lone GB judoka in action at the 2017 Baku Grand Slam (10 – 12 March) as she looks to make a strong start to the year in the Azerbaijan capital.

Last year Schlesinger was in imperious form as she powered through the -63kg field, winning her five contests in a combined time of 273 seconds, as she took home gold in Baku.

In a much reduced field Schlesinger will have a straight bye into the semi-finals where she’ll face a home fighter in either Khanim Huseynova or Nuriyya Akhundova. Turkish judoka Busra Katipoglu and up and coming Slovenian Andreja Leski are on the opposite side of the draw and most likely to challenge the British judoka at the top of the rostrum.

Competition starts at 0900 UK time with Alice Schlesinger in action on Saturday 11 March. Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for updates and the build-up and watch live on ippon.tv

Zagreb Cadet European Cup

GB Judo’s cadet judoka are back in action this weekend at the Zagreb Cadet European Cup on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 March in Croatia. A 19-strong squad will take to the mat with players from three of the Home Nations represented.

Welsh -55kg judoka Dan Rabbitt will be one to watch having won silver at the Fuengirola Cadet European Cup last month and will be looking to continue the good form that also saw him win the British Cadet title at the end of 2016.

Coventry’s Yasmin Javadian has enjoyed a good start to 2017 with Cadet European Cup medals at Fuengirola (silver) and Follonica (bronze) and the -52kg judoka will be hoping to make it three for the year to date in Croatia.

Amy Platten (-44kg) has also picked up two Cadet European Cup medals this year, both bronze, and like Javadian will be aiming for a third. The Redbridge judoka appears to have benefited from attending the inaugural GB Futures Camp to Tokyo last year, alongside the likes of Rabbitt and Javadian.

Other names to keep an eye out for this weekend include -48kg Junior British champion Sian Bobrowska and Highland Budokan’s Josie Steele (-57kg).

Competition starts at 0800 UK time on both days with the draw and live results updates via ippon.org as well as a live stream via eju.net and the Croatian Judo website. Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for end of competition for British medal updates