GB Judo Preview: 2018 Veteran European Judo Championships

The 2018 Veteran European Judo Championships in Glasgow are set to be a record-breaking event with over 1100 judoka from across Europe expected to take to the mat in the Emirates Arena from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 June.

This week will see a number of the best Masters judoka in the world looking to secure European silverware in the west of Scotland.

GB Judo will have the second highest number of entries with 205 judoka set to fight across the three days of individual competition and the final day of the team event. Only France with 331 judoka has a higher number of entries this week.

Among the GB judoka we’ll see a number of very recognisable faces from the British Judo community and Masters circuit.

2014 Commonwealth Games champion Louise Renicks (-52kg) will be fighting in Glasgow for the first time since that historic day four years ago. The 35 year old retired from judo in 2015 but will be making her competitive return under the watchful eye of Steph Inglis in the coaches chair.

Current British Judo Female Masters Judoka of the Year Joyce Malley (-63kg). The former Commonwealth Games medallist will be looking to retain her European title, as will Fiona Chan (-52kg) and the highly experienced Kay Andrews (-78kg).

The ever popular -73kg duo Kenneth Alan Jones and Stan Cantrill will be looking to improve on their bronze medals from 2017.

Terence Watt (-90kg) missed on European gold in Zagreb last year and had to settle for silver. The Northern Irish judoka will want to regain his title in front of the GB crowd.

1984 Olympian Nicholas Kokotaylo (+100kg) and Kyle Perry (-66kg) are also well worth keeping an eye on this week.

Thursday will see the M5 to M11 age categories taking to the mat.

Friday will be the turn of the M3 and M4 categories and Saturday will be all about the F1 – F11 and M1 – M2 categories.

Sunday will see the judoka come together in the team event.

Competition starts at 0930 on each day with a live stream via EJU.net. Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for highlights of the GB athletes throughout the day and medal updates. You can find the draw on ippon.org