It may be Valentine’s weekend but there won’t be any love lost on the mat as British judoka are in action at the Rome and Oberwart European Opens on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February.

Nine British players are going for points and medals this weekend with six in Italy and three in Austria.

In Rome Kim Renicks (-48kg) continues her push for Rio 2016 points as does Gemma Howell (-63kg) who also makes a long-awaited return from injury.

Four of the younger members of the team in Bekky Livesey (-57kg), Lucy Renshall (-63kg), Lubjana Piovesana (-63kg) and Jemima Yeats-Brown (-70kg) are looking to gain invaluable experience in some tough fields that include players in the World top twenty who were also competing at the Paris Grand Slam last weekend.

Over in Austria the three British players are all looking to get points that will move them up the rankings on the Road to Rio. Gregg Varey (-66kg) will be hoping to improve on some of his results from earlier this year.

Patrick Dawson (-73kg) will be aiming for his first European Open medal since Sofia in 2014 where he won gold while Gary Hall (-90kg) will want to back up his Tunis African Open bronze from the start of 2016.

All the action will be live on eju.net from 9AM GMT on both days and the full draw will be on ippon.org from Friday evening