GB Judo Preview: 17 – 18 March 2018

As well as the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam, British judoka are also fighting in Brazil, Peru and Portugal this weekend, ranging from Paralympic judoka to some of the rising Junior stars.

Grand Prix International Paralympic Judo INFRAERO

GB Judo have taken an eight-strong team to the 2018 Grand Prix International Paralympic Judo Infraero in Sao Paolo on Saturday 17 March.

The Grand Prix in Brazil is always one of the strongest events on the VI Judo calendar. As well as a strong Brazilian team there will be judoka from Argentina, the United States, France, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Rio Paralympians Natalie Greenhough (-70kg), Chris Skelley (-100kg) and Jack Hodgson (+100kg) will lead the team that includes a mix of experienced fighters and younger judoka looking to gain experience at international level.

Daniel Powell (-81kg) continues his return to international competition after a bronze at the German Open last month. He will be joined at that weight by Cameron Bradley and Evan Molloy.

Molloy, who normally fights at -73kg, will be using this event as part of prep by for the Antalya World Cup.

Elliot Stewart (-90kg) makes his first competition appearance of 2018 following a strong debut season in VI Judo.

Sam Price (-60kg) and Connah Anders (-66kg) make up the rest of the team with both judoka looking to gain experience at a high-level competition

Competition starts at 1630 UK time and will be live streamed via the CBDV Youtube channel: http://bit.ly/2p9W6am. Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for results updates

Lima Panamerican Open

Alex Paske is the lone British entry in Peru on Saturday 17 March. The -73kg judoka finished seventh at last week’s Santiago de Chile Panamerican Open.

Competition starts at 1500 UK time and you can follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for any medal updates.

Coimbra Junior European Cup

The first Junior European Cup of the year will see a young and exciting GB Judo team in action on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 March.

Over 30 British judoka will be fighting across the two days with a number of them in their first year at Junior level.

2017 EYOF champion Amy Platten (-48kg) will be fighting in her first Junior European Cup, as will EYOF bronze medallist Josie Steele (-57kg).

Current -78kg Junior and Senior British champion Shelley Ludford will be looking to continue her good form at her new weight.

On the men’s side, three current Junior British champions are in action: Michael Fryer (-66kg), Lachlan Moorhead (-73kg) and Harry Lovell-Hewitt (-90kg).

Competition starts at 1000 local time will be live streamed via the Judo Portugal Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FedPortJudo/videos

The full draw will be on ippon.org

You can find the full GB Judo team here: https://judobase.ijf.org/#/competition/profile/1638/countries/0

Saturday – Women: -44, -48, -52, -57 kg; Men: -55, -60, -66, -73 kg

Sunday – Women: -63, -70, -78, +78 kg; Men: -81, -90, -100, +100 kg