Seven British Judo fighters set for the Antalya Grand Slam

This week sees the IJF World Tour make the short journey from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Turkey for the Antalya Grand Slam.

Due to travel restrictions between the UK and Turkey the Antalya Grand Slam sees a smaller team compete than that of the Tbilisi Grand Slam last weekend, but nevertheless it promises to be an exciting three days of competition for British Judo fans.

Starting on Thursday 1^st April, Antalya hosts a Grand Slam for the first time in its history, having previously played host to a Grand Prix.

Thursday 1^st

Gregg Varey (-66kg), who last competed in January 2020 at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix, is the sole GB representative on the opening day. Varey, who is making his Grand Slam debut in Antalya, has been drawn in Pool A and will face Talha Buyukeser (TUR) in the opening round.

Friday 2^nd

Lucy Renshall enters in great form having finished 7^th at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam and 5^th at the Tbilisi Grand Slam last week. Renshall will be looking to gain more valuable Olympic qualification to further close the gap on the current top ranked GB fighter, Amy Livesey, in the -63kg category. There are less than 200 points between the two fighters, following the Tbilisi Grand Slam, with only the top ranked British fighter selected to represent Team GB at the Tokyo Games this summer.

Renshall is seeded 5^th and will face either Valentina Kostenko (RUS) or Sandrine Billiet (CPV) in Round 2, following an opening round bye.

2019 Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Gemma Howell and 2019 European Junior Champion Kelly Petersen-Pollard are both in action in the -70kg category.

Howell is seeded 2^nd and will face either this years’ Tbilisi and Tashkent Grand Slam bronze medallist Gulnoza Matniyazova (UZB) or 4x Oceania Champion Aoife Coughlan (AUS) in Round 2, following an opening round bye.

Meanwhile Petersen-Pollard, who made a great start to her World Tour career earlier this year finishing 7^th at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam, has been drawn in Pool A and will face the 2019 African Champion, Nihel Landolsi (TUN), in the opening round. The winner will progress to Round 2 and face top seed, Kim Polling (NED).

Eric Ham (-73kg) competes in Antalya for the first time in his career in what will be his 4^th competition of the year.

Drawn in Pool D, Ham faces a familiar opponent in his opening round contest, Faye Njie (GAM), in what is a repeat of the opening round of the Tashkent Grand Slam earlier this year, in which Ham was victorious. Njie also studies at the University of Wolverhampton and has trained alongside the British Judo squad during his time as a student.

Saturday 3^rd

Max Stewart and Sarah Adlington are in action on the final day in the -90kg and +78kg categories respectively.

Stewart has an opening round contest against Ahmet Cuhadar (TUR) with the winner to face the Tbilisi Grand Slam gold medallist, Marcus Nyman (SWE), in Round 2.

Adlington has an opening round bye and will face 7x Panamerican Championship medallist, Melissa Mojica (PUR), in Round 2.

Action on Thursday starts at 08:00am (BST), 8:45am on Friday and Saturday.

Final Block is scheduled to commence at 15:00 on each day.

British Judo will bring you a recap of how all your British fighters perform each day and you can follow the action on the British Judo social media channels. You can also watch the action live on the British Judo homepage.