It promises to be an action-packed weekend for British Judo with no less than three international events featuring British athletes.

Senior European Opens are taking place in Bucharest, Romania for men and Madrid, Spain for the women, whilst the juniors will be in action at the European Cup in Leibnitz, Austria.

New GB performance coach Chris Bowles will lead 10 men to the European Judo Union’s (EJU) 2013 Bucharest European Open and in his­­ first outing with the team, Bowles will be keen to make a positive start.

Royal Marine Chris Sherrington (+100kg) will be looking to bring home a medal after competing in last weeks Tyumen World Masters, whilst Philip Awiti-Alcaraz (-100kg) makes the step up to senior competition, fresh from the Junior European C­­up event in Kiev where he won bronze. Currently ranked number four as a junior in Europe, this year’s British Junior and Senior Champion is a firm hopeful for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In his last year as a junior contender, coaches believed this was the right tournament to expose him to the senior circuit with his performance this weekend contributing towards his senior world ranking list.

Also representing the team will be Gregg Varey (-60kg), Nathon Burns (-66kg), Patrick Dawson (-73kg), Jan Gosiewski (-73kg), Michael Horley (-90kg), Benjamin Fletcher (-100kg), Adam Hall (-100kg) and Neil Schofield (+100kg).

Meanwhile, a five-strong team will represent GB at the Madrid European Open led by Kate Howey.

Already European number one at junior level, Nekoda Davis who won gold in the -57kg category at the European Junior Cup in Kiev recently, also makes the step up to senior level. A member of British Judo’s 2013 European team, she is no stranger to this level of competition and will be hoping to compete for a medal.

Other contenders for the women include Kimberley Renicks (-48kg), Connie Ramsay (-57kg), Faith Pitman (-63kg) and Caroline Kinnane (-78kg).

Representing England at the 10th European Cup event of the year in Austria will be 13 athletes who will be aiming for seedings at the Junior European Championships later this year.

Following her gold in Spain last time out, Hayley Willis (-48kg) will be hoping for a repeat performance to remain in the junior European top 10.

Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown (-63kg) who ranks fifth in Europe has fought back from injury which saw her knee completely reconstructed. Her stunning comeback has already included a gold medal in Ukraine and a bronze in Greece.

Seventeen year old Bekky Livesey who won gold in Greece and bronze in Lithuania, will also be hoping to secure a top result in the -57kg category. If elder sister Amy, gold medallist of six national championships in the -70kg category, can emulate her previous performance then the pair can keep success in the family.

Also competing are Natasha Maslen (-70kg) who placed in fifth in Kiev last weekend and Jodie Myers (+78kg) who won bronze.

Five junior boys will represent England in Austria and will be accompanied by Scotland’s -81kg contender Connell McGregor.

Sam Hall (-60kg) won gold in Lithuania and looks forward to similar success while Max Stewart, who took gold in Lithuania and bronze in Spain, is a strong hopeful for a gold medal in the -81kg category.

Also fighting for England will be Lucas Rowe -60kg who took bronze last time in Spain, Daniel Lyon in the -66kg weight category who was fifth in Spain last weekend and Sam Potts -90kg who was fifth in Lithuania.

Follow the results from the weekend at www.eju.net

Photo by EJU.