British Championships 2023: Pre-Cadet and Cadet – Ones to Watch

Ahead of this weekend’s British Championships at the EIS Sheffield, we have a look at some of the ones to watch as the best in young British Judo talent compete to be crowned British Judo Pre-Cadet and Cadet Champion.

Pre-Cadet Boys | Sunday 3^rd December

The -34kg category could be played out between Welsh Open champion Yarden Hadad and English Closed champion Cuthbert Walke.

Louie Seguin won gold at the Welsh Open in the -38kg category after taking silver at the English Closed. He was defeated on that occasion by Harry Egleton.

Samuel Knights was crowned -42kg English Closed champion whilst Haaris McGrorty topped the podium at the Welsh Open.

Ibrahim Mirza and Luka Iosebashvili will enter the -50kg and -60kg categories as strong favourites having taken gold at both the Welsh Open and English Closed in 2023.

Robert Buciumeanu topped the podium at the English Closed. He will face competition from Welsh Open champion Leone Bartoccioni-Menconi in the -46kg category.

Zachary Robbins took bronze at the English Closed, before topping the podium at the Welsh Open in the -55kg category.

Pre-Cadet Girls | Saturday 2^nd December

Vanessa Hristozova, Katrina Davis and Evie Mitchell all won gold at both the English Closed and Welsh Open this year in the -32kg, -40kg and -57kg categories respectively.

Amber Donaghy was -70kg English Closed Champion and also topped the podium at the Welsh Open in the +63kg category.

Ava Watkins claimed gold at the English Closed in the -44kg category. Watkins also topped the podium at the Welsh Open in the -48kg category.

Annabelle Kett was crowned English Closed -48kg Champion and will face competition from Welsh Open silver medallist Lili Varga.

Rihanna James claimed gold at the English Closed in the -52kg category ahead of Frankie Cunningham.

Sophie Rush topped the Welsh Open podium earlier this summer and will likely face competition from English Closed champion Kyra McDonald for the -63kg title.

Cadet Boys | Saturday 2^nd December

Lewis Rhodes and Jamie Leroux recently topped the Welsh Open podium in the -42kg and -46kg categories, respectively. Leroux will face competition from Ishmael Brown who tops the -42kg British rankings.

Coen Gilbert will fight in the -50kg. The Welsh Open champion took silver in 2022 in the -46kg category and will likely battle for gold against British number one Reece Blackshaw.

Joseph Buchanan is another judoka who will compete up a weight category in 2023. The 2022 -50kg bronze medallist claimed gold at the Welsh Open in the -55kg category and heads to Sheffield as the number one ranked judoka in the UK rankings

Fuengirola Cadet European Cup bronze medallist Jesse Chraniuk will compete in the -60kg category. Chraniuk represented GB Judo at the European Cadet Championships in 2023 and Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).

Luka Gigilashvili is another judoka who represented GB Judo at the European Cadet Championships in 2023. The -66kg judoka took silver at the 2022 British Championships.

He will face competition from Welsh Open champion Sol Savoury who also sits at the top of the British rankings this year.

Welsh Open Champion, Jack MacLeod will face competition from British number one ranked judoka Oriol Rubio-Ruiz in the -73kg entries as 2022 champion Derek Marczak will compete in the -81kg category. Marczak finished 5^th at the European Cadet Championships earlier this year and tops the UK ranking list.

George Riley topped the podium at the Welsh Open earlier this year in the -90kg category. In 2022 he took silver in the -81kg category.

Cadet Girls | Sunday 3^rd December

Eva Ewing, who recently won bronze at the Gyor Cadet European Cup, will compete in the -44kg category. The European Cadet Championship and EYOF representative claimed silver at the 2022 Championships and heads to Sheffield as the number one ranked judoka in the UK rankings.

2022 Pre-Cadet -44kg champion, Taylor Chrisp won gold at the Welsh Open in the -48kg category. She will likely challenge British number one Chloe Lymer for gold.

British number one, Maya Aubert-Gomez will be looking to improve upon the -63kg bronze medal she claimed in 2022. Aubert-Gomez enters in fine form having claimed silver at the Montreal Cadet Pan American Cup.

Welsh Open champions Mirza Mahnoor (-40kg), Kate Chrisholm (-52kg), Zhaklin Satari (-57kg), Chloe Allen (-70kg) and Stephanie Craven-Gray (+70kg) will also be in action. Chisholm, Satari, Allen and Craven-Gray all lead the UK rankings heading into the Championships.

Weigh-in Times

Cadet Boys – Saturday 2nd December: 07:30hrs – 08:30hrs EIS, Sheffield Badminton Hall
Pre Cadet Girls – Saturday 2nd December: 12:00hrs – 13:00hrs EIS, Sheffield Badminton Hall
Cadet Girls – Sunday 3rd December: 07:30hrs – 08:30hrs EIS, Sheffield Badminton Hall
Pre Cadet Boys – Sunday 3rd December: 10:00hrs – 11:00hrs EIS, Sheffield Badminton Hall
Competition starts: 09:30hrs on both days.

Useful Information ahead of the Championships

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