British Judo has pre-selected five judoka to compete at the 2013 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 25-28 April with additional and final selections to be made on Thursday 4 April.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix silver medallist Natalie Powell, 22, becomes the first Welsh judoka to be selected for a major championships since Welsh national coach Craig Ewers competed at the 2005 European Championships.

The Llanwrytd Wells judoka, who trains full-time at the Sport Wales National Centre as part of a talent-rich young Welsh team, will compete in the -78kg category alongside London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons.

Powell said: “I was really pleased to be selected for the Europeans. Hopefully good performances in the English Open (10 March) and the Turkey Grand Prix (31 March) along with full commitment to my training programme over the next few weeks will ensure I’m fully prepared to compete and produce a good result.”

Powell and Gibbons will be joined by Scotland’s Kimberley Renicks who competes in the -48kg category while Londoner Tom Davis sees action at -81kg and Scot Chris Sherrington takes on the heavyweight elite in the +100kg category.

Look out for a European Championships preview in the April edition of Matside magazine