GB Judo Preview: 2018 Atyrau IBSA Judo World Cup

GB Judo VI athletes will be back in action this weekend at the Atyrau IBSA World Cup in Kazakhstan from Sunday 9 to Monday 10 September.

The event in Kazakhstan is the first Tokyo 2020 qualification event and a chance for judoka to get some valuable competition time against their rivals ahead of the IBSA World Judo Championships in Odivelas (16 – 18 November).

Injuries mean that Daniel Powell (-81kg), Elliot Stewart (-90kg) and Jack Hodgson (+100kg) miss the competition. All three are currently following their return to play programmes with the aim of being back fighting later this year.

Chris Skelley (-100kg) gets things underway on Sunday and the 2017 IBSA European champion is aiming to get back to medal winning form.

The Hull judoka started the year well with gold medals in Germany and Brazil before losing in the repechage in Antalya back in April.

Georgia’s Zviad Gogotchuri won gold in Antalya and the Rio 2016 -90kg champion has looked strong at his new weight.

Brazilian legend Antonio Tenorio will also be worth keeping an eye on, as will experienced Ukrainian Oleksandr Pominov.

At -73kg, Evan Molloy fights on Monday in a strong field that includes Rio 2016 bronze medallist Nikolai Kornhass (GER) and current IBSA European champion Vasilii Kutuev (RUS).

The 19 year old Devizes judoka will be aiming to gain more experience at a world-class world ranking event. Last time out in Antalya, Molloy went exited in the repechage with a seventh place at last year’s IBSA Europeans the best result to date for the British fighter.

Competition starts at 0700 UK time on both days with final block starting at 1300 UK time on both days. Times are subject to change

Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for updates throughout the day. Live stream: TBC in due course by IBSA and the LOC