British Judo has named its team for the 2009 European Championships taking place in Tibilisi, Georgia, from the 24th -26th April 2009.

Sarah Clark is the only European gold medallist featured but will compete at -57kg, a category lighter than -63kg, in which she held the 2006 title. The Beijing Olympian, who only recently moved to the -57kg category, got the nod after winning bronze at the Prague World Cup and gold at the Belgium Open.

With just one other former European medallist appearing, 2007 bronze medallist, Euan Burton, the team contains a host of players who have only recently established themselves at this level. 

Beijing Olympians Craig Fallon and Peter Cousins will not feature as they are still undertaking a rehabilitation and reconditioning programme following a shoulder and a lower back injury earlier in the year.

The 2009 European Senior Championships marks the completion of the first part of the foundation stage in the preparation for London 2012 Games. The 18 month period started with the British trials at the beginning of November 2008, and has been a phase of planning for the structure for British Judo’s Elite Performance Programme.

Commenting Head Coach Patrick Roux said, “During the last 6 months, a new cycle of national squad training has allowed us to evaluate the judo players potential and introduce new concepts, new methods and a different content more centred on judo specific requirements. This has been a period of a great deal of change and new experiences – which will not necessarily produce immediate results in terms of performances, but I have been extremely pleased with the response of both athletes and coaches in accepting the long term target.

Commenting on his expectations Roux said, “At this stage we are more looking at the general improvement of the GB judo team. Of course it is natural in Performance Judo to expect and want to win medals, but we also know that to achieve our Olympic dream in 2012, we have to be more ambitious and more rational.

“We all need to look at a bigger picture because to be able to get consistent results at that international judo level, we have to improve many details related to the structure, the staff, the concept of training, the methodology and the content, this foundation period is our opportunity to get these details right for a great performance in 2012”, he added.

Media Contact:

Emma Griffin

(t) 01509 631692

(e) emmagriffin@britishjudo.org.uk

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