GB Judo Preview: 29-30 July 2017

With no senior competition now until the World Championships in August, the juniors take centre stage as they travel to Germany for the Berlin Junior European Cup.

A huge team of 45 competitors will take to the mat in Berlin, in what is generally thought of as one of the toughest junior competitions every year, so our judoka will know that they need to be at their best if they are to come away from Germany with medals.

There are some familiar faces in the squad with the likes of Neil MacDonald (-60kg), Eric Ham (-73kg), Lubjana Piovesana (-63kg), Chelsie Giles (-52kg), Jamal Petgrave (-90kg) and Acelya Toprak (-57kg) all competing over the weekend in a field consisting of over 550 judoka!

Neil MacDonald will be hoping to add a fourth Junior European Cup medal to his collection as builds up to the Junior Europeans having won silver at the Championships in Malaga last year.

Lubjana Piovesana comes into this tournament on form following a string of impressive performances throughout 2017 including Grand Prix medals at Antalya and Cancun. In her last five competitions she has won bronze medals in three of those tournaments which has seen her rise to a career best World No.34 in the world at senior level.

Chelsie Giles won a silver medal in her last competition in Leibnitz, Austria to back up her bronze medal won in St Petersburg back in April. Her current results have seen her rise to World No.4 in the Junior rankings and she will be looking to take this form into senior competition as she looks to make the transition. She has already claimed a 7th placed finish at a Grand Prix this season in Tbilisi in March.

Jamal Petgrave has been catching the eye of the judo community in the -90kg ranks. Three bronze medals this year along with a gold medal in the Bremen International Masters Cup has proved he is one for the future! With his range of throwing skills, Jamal possesses the attributes required to win medals.

Competition will start on both days at 0900 UK time (1000 local).

Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter throughout the weekend for GB Judo end of day medal updates from both competitions

Full squad list: