Great Britain ready to take on Europe’s best

This time next week, British Judo athletes will be in France preparing for the opening of the European Championships in Montpellier, writes Donna Richardson.

Three Olympians and two former European bronze medallists will be in action for Great Britain at the European Judo Union (EJU) tournament that runs from Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 April 2014.

On the first day Ashley McKenzie will be hoping to better last year’s bronze medal and former European medallist Colin Oates will be eyeing another podium finish after also gaining bronze in 2011.

McKenzie of Queens Park, who trains at Camberley said: “I am happy to be selected and it is one of my goals to better my bronze from last year.

“The Europeans is just a stepping stone to become the greatest. To get there you have to go to more tournaments and if you train hard enough you will get there and realise your dreams.

“If everything goes right on the day then I can definitely medal, if not win it.

“After my gold medal in South America I feel confident and focused.”

Oates from Norfolk, whose home club is Kumo, but trains full time at Ratho in Scotland, said:

“I missed out the year before so it’s nice to be back fighting on the European stage.

“I have had a bronze before and I’d like to do one better and go into the final.

“This is not just a prestigious event, but a valuable ranking event as it is just one level below a Grand Slam.” Britain’s highest ranked judoka Sally Conway will also be hoping to keep up her winning streak after a series of medals at Grand Prix events over the past year.

Conway, 26, is one of Britain’s top ranked athletes on the international stage.

She is currently ranked ninth in the world and trains full time in Edinburgh.

“I’m fighting the best I have ever fought and anything can happen,” she said.

“I’ve never won a European, World or Olympic medal before so I’m hoping to put in a good performance.

“I have been to a lot of European Championships now and the highest I have achieved is a seventh, so I hope I put in a good performance.

“This will also be the last qualifying event for the Commonwealths and then it is full steam ahead until Rio.”

Megan Fletcher fights in the same weight category as Conway and is looking forward to returning to the Europeans.

The 23-year old Geography teacher from Wokingham, who trains at Team Bath said: “I am feeling really excited to be selected for the Europeans off the back of Pan America.

“I feel lucky to be selected and I hope to put in a decent performance.”

Natalie Powell (-78kg) who trains out of Cardiff finished seventh last year and hopes to improve on her performance this year.

“I am going to the Europeans confident of improving last year’s result,” she said.

Nathon Burns, originally from Blackburn and now training at Camberley, will make his European Championships debut this year in the -66kg class.

“I have been waiting to get there for quite a while now and I have tried to go a couple of times,” he said.

“It feels great to be selected, especially when it is a small team as well so I feel pretty privileged since there were some pretty good players who didn’t get selected.

“That said, I am confident I will make an impact.”

All of the athletes attended an intense training camp at the British Judo Centre of Excellence in Walsall last week before returning to their home clubs for further training followed by tapering off session.

Lead coach for women, Kate Howey said: “We have a small but strong team going to France for two reasons; firstly the criteria we set this year means that it is a lot harder to gain selection and on the women’s side we have a few injuries.

“Sarah Adlington and Gemma Gibbons both made the criteria but are both out of action due to injury.

“We are going in with two girls who are seeded: Sally and Natalie, and we are expecting good performances from them.“

“The Europeans will be tough, especially in the weights that we have for the women.

“Megan has been selected off the back of a good Pan American Tour and Sally and Natalie have good Grand Prix medals.”

British Judo’s Performance Director Nigel Donohue added:

“Going into the Championships we are really optimistic. All of the players have to meet a qualification standard and selection criteria and they should take a lot of confidence that they have earned their place.

“Furthermore, she has broken into the world top ten and this shows our players are performing consistently on the world stage.”“Sally Conway has been consistent and she is ranked world number nine which means she is seeded for the Championships.

The Low Down

The individual action begins on Thursday at April 24 with Ashley McKenzie (-60kg), Colin Oates and Nathon Burns (-66kg) in action.

Sally Conway and Megan Fletcher (-70kg) will fight on Friday and Natalie Powell (-78kg) will be fighting on Saturday.

The elimination rounds begin at 11:00 and the repechage matches start at 16:15 followed by the semi final and medal contests.

Great Britain are also entering the women’s and men’s teams event on Sunday, April 27. Action starts at 12:00 with the repechage and medal contests from 16:45 medal contests.

The men’s team are: Nathon Burns (-66kg), Patrick Dawson(-73kg), Owen Livesey (-81kg), Gary Hall (-90kg), Chris Sherrington (+90kg) Womens Team: Kelly Edwards (-52kg), Connie Ramsay (-57kg), Jodie Mullen (-63kg), Megan Fletcher (-70kg), Jodie Myers SKK (+70kg).

All timings are CET (BST+1).

The competition will be streamed live at www.ippon.tv with British Judo providing regular updates on Twitter, Facebook and the website www.britishjudo.org.uk.