GB Judoka set for World Stage

The World Championships get underway tomorrow with 9 British judoka travelling to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Humo Arena plays host to the week-long championships which are the first major championships of the Paris Olympic qualification period.

Thursday 6^th

Sam Hall (Club: Ryecroft; Coach: Fitzroy Davies) competes for the first time since winning Commonwealth Games silver at Birmingham 2022. Hall enjoyed a fantastic end to 2021 when he topped the podium at the Zagreb Grand Prix and won Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze.

Hall will face Allan Kuwabara (BRA) in his opening contest in Pool A, with the victor progressing to face number one seed and current Olympic silver medallist, Yung-Wei Yang (TPE) in the second round.

Friday 7^th

Chelsie Giles (Coventry JC; Simon Moss) will be looking to add a World Championship medal to the European gold and Olympic bronze medals she currently holds.

Giles enters as 3^rd seed and will face Liping Liu (CHN) in round two, following an opening round bye.

Saturday 8^th

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Acelya Toprak (Darren Hawney & Fitzroy Davies; Metro Judo Club & Relentless Judo) making her senior World Championships debut has been drawn in Pool D and will face Pauline Starke (GER) in the opening round. The pair last met back in 2017 in the final of the Leibnitz Junior European Cup where Toprak won gold.

Sunday 9^th

Lucy Renshall (SKK JC; Pete Blood) returns to competition following a shoulder injury that ruled her out of the Commonwealth Games in August. The world number one makes her 3^rd senior World Championship appearance and has enjoyed success at junior level winning bronze at the 2015 World Junior Championships.

Renshall has an opening round bye and will face either Cristina Cabana-Perez (ESP) or Amina Belkadi (ALG) in Round 2.

Commonwealth Games champion Lachlan Moorhead (Sheffield JC; Matt Moorhead) makes his senior World Championship debut. The 2019 European Junior Championship bronze medallist announced himself on the world stage when he won bronze at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in November.

Moorhead is drawn in Pool C and will face Eljan Hajiyev (AZE) in the opening round.

Monday 10^th

Kelly Petersen-Pollard (Hardy Spicer 83; Fitzroy Davies) makes her senior World Championship debut alongside Jemima Yeats-Brown (Ryecroft; Ian Oliver) in the -70kg category.

World Number 9, Petersen-Pollard, enters as 8^th seed and will face either Gulnoza Matniyazova (UZB) or Chantal Wright (USA) in Round 2 following an opening round bye.

Yeats-Brown recently joined Petersen-Pollard in winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Yeats-Brown returns to the World Championships after last competing at the championships in 2018 where she finished 5^th.

Yeats-Brown has been drawn in Pool C and will face Nigara Shaheen (IRT) in the opening round.

Tuesday 11^th

Natalie Powell (Irfon JC; Mark Earl) and Emma Reid (Redbridge JC; Steve Sandy) compete in the -78kg category on the penultimate day of the individual competition. Powell and Reid are inseparable in the world rankings – ranked 12^th and 13^th respectively.

2017 World Championship bronze medallist Powell makes her 7^th appearance on the Word Championship stage whilst Reid will be making her World Championship debut in Tashkent.

Both Powell and Reid have opening round byes and will enter the competition in Round 2. Powell, drawn in Pool B, will face Hafsa Yatim (MAR) whilst Reid, who is drawn in Pool C, will face Zhenzhao Ma (CHN).

Preliminary Round action starts at 06:30am (BST) on Thursday and Friday. Action on Saturday, Sunday and Monday will start at 6:00am, whilst Tuesday’s action gets underway at 7:00am.

Final Block is scheduled to commence at 13:00 on each day.

You can watch all the action from the World Championships LIVE at live.ijf.org each day.

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