GB Judo’s junior judoka will be back on the mat this weekend at the St Petersburg Junior European Cup on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April.
The Russian tournament is always one of the strongest on the Junior circuit with medals hard to come by. At last year’s tournament Chelsie Giles (-52kg) and Acelya Toprak (-57kg) produced some terrific judo to come away with bronze medals while Neil MacDonald finished fifth at -60kg.
All three judoka will be returning to Russia hoping to challenge for medals again with Giles and MacDonald using the tournament to build-up to the Senior European Championships in Poland next week.
-63kg Junior World No.1 Lubjana Piovesana missed last year’s tournament due to illness and will be looking to make up for lost time. The Birmingham judoka goes in on a high having won Grand Prix bronze in Antalya last weekend.
Westcroft Judo Club’s Jamal Petgrave has made an impressive start to the year with bronze medal at the Coimbra Junior European Cup followed by an historic gold at the International Masters Bremen last month. The big throwing -90kg fighter will be one to watch in Russia at the weekend.
Competition starts on Saturday 15 April at 0800 UK time with Women: -44, -48, -52, -57 kg and Men: -55, -60, -66, -73 kg in action.
Sunday will see Women: -63, -70, -78, +78 kg and Men: -81, -90, -100, +100 kg going for gold, again starting at 0800 UK time.
You can find the full draw on ippon.org with live coverage via eju.net. Follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for end of day medal updates from the team in Russia
GB Squad
1 | -60 kg | MACDONALD Neil |
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2 | -60 kg | THOMSON Scott |
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3 | -73 kg | HAM Eric |
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4 | -73 kg | POWELL Daniel |
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5 | -81 kg | HAYES James |
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6 | -90 kg | PETGRAVE Jamal |
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7 | -100 kg | VASEKIN Alex |
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8 | -48 kg | PIECHOTA Olivia |
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9 | -52 kg | GILES Chelsie |
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10 | -57 kg | TOPRAK Acelya |
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11 | -63 kg | PIOVESANA Lubjana |