GB Judo Team Announcement: 2018 Junior World Championships

GB Judo have announced a five-strong team for the 2018 Junior World Championships in Nassau, Bahamas from Wednesday 17 to Sunday 21 October.

Every member of the team has earned their place following strong performances throughout 2018. At last year’s Junior Worlds in Zagreb, GB Judo won bronze thanks to Lubjana Piovesana (-63kg) with fifth place finishes for Stuart McWatt (-81kg) and Jamal Petgrave (-90kg).

All bar one of the team fighting in the Bahamas will be making their Junior Worlds debut with Acelya Toprak (-57kg) the only returning member of last year’s team.

Toprak made her Senior European Championships debut in Tel Aviv earlier this year and she added two more Junior European Cup medals to her tally with gold in Paks and bronze in Lignano.

Fellow -57kg judoka Josie Steele has had an impressive first year at Junior level with medals at the International Thuringia Cup (silver) and Paks Junior European Cup (bronze).

Yasmin Javadian (-52kg) is another first year Junior and she impressed to finish fifth at the Junior European Championships in Sofia earlier this month.

The Coventry judoka has also won three Junior European Cup medals with year with silvers in Coimbra and La Coruna and bronze in Paks.

At -78kg, Shelley Ludford finished seventh at the Junior Europeans and the Osaka fighter has had some good results in her first year at the heavier weight category.

Ludford finished on top of the medal rostrum at the Kaunas Junior European Cup and also won silver and bronze at the International Thuringia Cup and Coimbra Junior European Cup respectively.

Harry Lovell-Hewitt (-90kg) has had some very impressive performances in 2018 including gold at the Lignano Junior European Cup and silvers in Coimbra and Kaunas.