GB Cadets set for European Championships challenge
A 14 strong GB Cadet team will be in action this weekend at the 2017 Cadet European Judo Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania from 30 June to 2 July.
A team of 15 was identified initially however -70kg judoka Toni Imrie is a late withdrawal due to a wrist injury.
In Amy Platten (-44kg), Yasmin Javadian (-52kg) and Josie Steele (-57kg) GB have three players who have experienced competition at this level before. However the rest of the team will be making their European Championships debut this weekend.
However a number of the team have secured some success on the international stage this year. Platten and Javadian have both medalled more than once in Cadet European Cups with three and two respectively.
Welsh judoka Daniel Rabbitt (-55kg) has also made his way onto the medal rostrum at Cadet European Cup level with silver in Fuengirola in February.
Highland Budokan’s Josie Steele also has a silver medal to her name this year after an impressive showing in Zagreb back in March.
This events open a busy summer for GB Cadet judoka with many of this team also fighting in the 2017 Gyor European Youth Olympic Festival in July or the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas in August
The cadet judoka will also be supported by coaches from the Home Nations programmes; Gary Edwards (Scotland), who will also by team leader, Sandra Klinger (England) and George Bountakis (Wales). They will also be joined by referee Lisa Harrison who has been selected to officiate at the EJU event.
Edwards said:
“We’re really looking forward to the Cadet Europeans this weekend. We’re sending a strong team, with a possibility of all players winning matches and hopefully medals while also displaying their ability to develop the GB Trademarks in competition.
“Fighting at this level will be a great experience for our players and will hopefully set them up for bigger things in the future.”
At least year’s Cadet Europeans in Vantaa, Finland, it was Chloe Nunn (-70kg) who secured a place on the medal rostrum with a bronze medal with Javadian and Kelly Petersen (-70kg) finishing seventh in their respective weight categories.
Jemima Yeats-Brown was the last British judoka to be crowned Cadet European champion back in 2011 while a number of current WCPP judoka have also medalled at the European Championships in recent years.
Friday will see Amy Platten, Imogen Walls (-48kg), Caitlin Barber (-52kg), Yasmin Javadian, Daniel Rabbitt, Oliver Park (-60kg) and Archie Platt (-66kg) going for gold.
On Saturday it’ll be the turn of Darcie Hancocks (-57kg), Josie Steele, Holly Jones (-63kg), Emily Cooper (-63kg), Lachlan Moorhead (-73kg), Aaron Miller (-81kg) and Lewis Widdicombe (-81kg)
On Sunday GB will be entering teams in both the Male and Female competitions to give the judoka as much time on the mat as possible.
The action gets underway in Kaunas from 0730 UK Time (0930 local) on Friday 30 June and Saturday 1 July for the two days of individual competition while the team event on Sunday 2 July will start at the slightly later time of 0800 UK Time and (1000 local)
There will be live coverage via eju.net and the full draw can be found on ippon.org and you can follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for competition updates
