Weekend Preview: Budapest Grand Prix
This weekend sees the IJF World Judo Tour return to Budapest for what promises to be a summer supershow.
With Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification having reached the halfway point, Budapest, recently named by the IJF as host city for the World Judo Championships in 2022, plays host to the penultimate event before the World Judo Championships in Tokyo next month.
Saturday 13th
Following a silver medal performance at the Montreal Grand Prix last weekend, Amy Livesey (-63kg) will be hoping to go one step higher on the medal podium. Livesey has a bye in the opening round and will face home Junior athlete, Kira Katzenmajer (HUN), in the second round.
2018 European U23 Champion, Lubjana Piovesana (-63kg), will be looking to put the disappointment of last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, where she was defeated by eventual winner Mokhee Cho (KOR) in the second round, behind her. ‘Lulu’ opens her Hungarian campaign in round one against Ketleyn Quadros (BRA). Quadros is ranked just 2 places behind Lulu in the world rankings so it proves to be a tough opening match for the Briton. The victor will progress to the second round and face Edwige Gwend (ITA), the world number 25.
Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist, Gemma Howell (-70kg) will be hoping to recapture her early season form as she faces Michela Polleres (AUT) in the second round, following an opening round bye. Howell beat Polleres in Baku to claim the bronze, and the two have also faced each other a further three times, with all three matches going the way of the Briton.
In his first competition since finishing 7th at the European Games in Minsk, Stuart McWatt (-81kg) heads to Budapest full of confidence. McWatt has a bye in the opening round and will face Dorin Gotonoga (MDA) in the second round.
2012 Olympian, Daniel Williams (-73kg) will face Akylbek Serik (KAZ) in the opening round.
Sunday 14th
World number 5, Natalie Powell (-78kg), has a bye in the opening round and will await the victor of the opening round match between Evelin Salanki (HUN) and Camila Figueroa Aquino (PER).
Former European U23 silver medallist, Jemima Yeats-Brown (-78kg), will be hoping a strong performance in Budapest will help with her selection to the Tokyo World Championships later this year. Yeats-Brown has a first-round match against Natascha Ausma (NED). Awaiting the victor in the second round is world number 11, Kaliema Antomarchi (CUB).
Sarah Adlington (+78kg) has a bye in the opening round and will face Yan Wang (CHN) in the second round. Wang is ranked just four places below the Briton in the world rankings. The two have only met once before, incidentally exactly 12 months ago in the opening round at the Budapest Grand Prix. The Chinese athlete was victorious on that occasion, so Adlington will be hoping to even the score this time around and progress to the quarter-final.
2018 European U23 Championship silver medallist Jamal Petgrave (-90kg), finds himself drawn against the athlete ranked 1 place ahead of him in he world rankings, Bas Van Empelen (NED). Van Empelen was bronze medallist at the same European U23 Championships after losing to Petgrave in the semi-final. The victor will progress to the second round where they will face the current World Championship silver medallist, Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB).
Max Stewart (-90kg) is drawn in Pool B and has been dealt a tough draw facing world number 11, Islam Bozbayev (KAZ) in the first round.
Chris Sherrington (+100kg) continues his return to competitive judo after 3 years away. Sherrington fought at last weekend’s Montreal Grand Prix, but his time away has seen his world ranking fall and he finds himself in a tough Pool. The Glasgow Commonwealth gold medallist starts his Budapest campaign against Vito Dragic (SLO) with the winner going on to face world number 7, and top seed, Stephan Hugyi (AUT).
Preliminary rounds start at 9:00am GMT with Final Block due to start at 4:00pm GMT. Please note times may be due to change based upon numbers. The full draw can be viewed at Ippon.org and a full round up will be on the British Judo website on Monday.
To watch the action follow the links below:
