GB Judo Weekend Preview 18 – 19 March 2017

GB judoka will be in action across two continents this weekend at the Casablanca African Open and the Coimbra Junior European Cup on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March

Coimbra Junior European Cup

An 17/18 strong British squad will take to the mat in Portugal at the first Junior European Cup of 2017. Last year British judoka came home with nine medals from Coimbra however it will be a young team taking to the mat this weekend.

Daniel Powell (-73kg) and Wesley Greenidge (+100kg) are the only returning medallists from last year and the likes of Powell and Eric Ham are the most experienced members of the team going out to Portugal. Ham (-73kg) has made a good start to the year with solid performances at the Rome and Katowice European Opens including a seventh place finish at the former.

There will also be an opportunity for younger judoka to impress, such as 2016 Cadet European Championships bronze medallist Chloe Nunn (-70kg), Molly Harvey (-48kg), Joshua Giles (-55kg) and Michael Fryer (-60kg).

Competition starts at 1000am local and UK time on both days with the draw taking place at 2000 on Friday 17 March

Saturday – Women: -44, -48, -52, -57 kg; Men: -55, -60, -66, -73 kg

Sunday – Women: -63, -70, -78, +78 kg; Men: -81, -90, -100, +100 kg

British squad:

Casablanca African Open

Meanwhile in Morocco, seven British judoka will take to the tatami in the second African Open of the year. Gregg Varey (-66kg) goes in off the back of some good form shown at the Katowice European Open at the start of the month where he finished fifth.

David Ferguson (-60kg) goes into African Open having medalled at the Taipei Asian Open last year and he’s in a strong field with two top twenty judoka in France’s Vincent Limare and Walide Khyar both entered.

Alex Paske (-73kg), Adam Hoshal (-81kg) and Reece Calder (-90kg) are all making their senior Continental Open debuts this weekend while Malin Wilson (-57kg) will be hoping to improve on her seventh place at last year’s Glasgow European Open.

Competition starts at 1000 local and UK time on both days with the draw taking place at 1900 on Friday evening. The full draw will go on ippon.org afterwards.

Saturday – Women: -48 kg / -52 kg / -57 kg / -63 kg Men: -60 kg / -66 kg / -73 kg

Sunday – Women: -70 kg / -78 kg / +78 kg Men: -81 kg / -90 kg / -100 kg / +100 kg

Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for end of day medal updates from both Coimbra and Casablanca