International stars ready to light up Glasgow

With over 150 athletes from 39 nations entered into this year’s Glasgow European Judo Open at the Emirates Arena on Saturday 10 October, it’s no surprise that there are some high quality international athletes looking to gain vital Rio Olympic qualification points.

Competitors range from as far afield as Australia, Srilanka and Papa New Guinea to those closer to home including French and Dutch judoka.

There are a number of talented young European fighters in action including Dutch -81kg Junior European champion Frank De Wit (pictured in blue), who defeated Stuart McWatt in the semi-finals on his way to winning gold, Nuno Saraiva (Portugal) who took bronze at -73kg in the Junior Worlds last year and Benjamin Axus (France) -73kg Junior European champion in 2014.

From the more experienced ranks you have Italian Antonio Ciano (-81kg) who is a former World Military Championships gold medallist and European Championships silver medallist. Ciano is also currently in 21^st place in the Olympic Games qualification (OGQ) so he will be looking to strengthen his position in Glasgow.

Ciano is not the only international athlete looking to boost their Rio chances in Glasgow. Laszlo Csoknyai (-81kg) is currently ranked 13^th OGQ and the Hungarian could face Commonwealth Games champion Owen Livesey on the day.

Ecuadorian Lenin Preciado is also in a qualifying position for Rio in the -60kg category and goes in with bronze medals at the last two PanAmerican Championships and the returning Ashley McKenzie will be well aware of his threat.

These are just a few of the many international athletes in action in Glasgow next week and you can see them take on some of the best Britain has to offer from as little as £2.50: https://www.britishjudo.org.uk/glasgow2015