Squad Announced for U23 European Championships

A 12 strong squad has been announced ahead of the 2018 U23 European Championships due to take place in Gyor, Hungary during 2nd-4th November.

The squad will be looking to better the two bronze medals won last year by Dan Powell (-73kg) and Kelly Staddon (-48kg) with a glimpse of future Olympic prospects on show.

Alex Short (-66kg) and Josie Steele (-57kg) are fresh off their incredible gold medal winning performances at the recent Glasgow European Open and will be looking to test themselves against the best that Europe has to offer.

Fellow Glasgow medallists Stuart McWatt (-81kg), Jamal Petgrave (-90kg), Shelley Ludford (-78kg) and Rhys Thompson (-100kg) will all be returning to the mat following their exploits in Scotland which helped Great Britain finish second in the medal table.

Eric Ham (-73kg) suffered a disappointing first round exit in the same competition last year so will be hoping for a favourable draw to progress through the day and hopefully secure his first medal of 2018.

Joining Petgrave in the -90kg competition will be Harry Lovell-Hewitt who started 2018 with a great run of form which saw him pick up a Gold and two Silver medals in his first three Junior events at Coimbra, Lignano and Kaunas.

Wesley Greenidge (+100kg) medalled at the prestigious St Petersburg Junior European Cup earlier this year and will be aiming to gain more experience at a major championships in Hungary.

Chelsie Giles (-52kg) won her maiden Grand Prix medals earlier this year with a Silver medal in Antalya along with a Bronze medal in Budapest.

Lele Nairne (-57kg)  and Lubjana Piovesana (-63kg) will be looking to be back in the hunt for medals following near misses in recent weeks. Piovesana is the reigning Junior World Championship Bronze medallist and she has some impressive results already on the Senior circuit in 2018 with a Bronze medal in Tbilisi, backed up with a Gold medal at the Minsk European Open. Nairne has narrowly missed out on Bronze medals on her past two outings on the mat as she picked up Fifth placed finishes at the Bratislava and Glasgow European Opens.