STRONG SQUAD NAMED BY BRITISH JUDO FOR EUROPEAN CADET CHAMPIONSHIPS

British Judo has announced a strong squad for the European Cadet Championships, which will take place in Miskolc, Hungary from 23-25th June.

The squad is made up of Cadets from the British Judo World Class Start programme aged 15 and 16 years, who have shown long term potential in the sport, and have also achieved excellent results between October 2005 and April 2006.

In Hungary the Brits will face the best talent from throughout Europe. Commenting on the competition, World Class Start Manager Rowena Birch said, "The Germans are particularly strong at Cadet level, and at the Belfort Schools International (a competition of a similar standard to the European Cadet Championships) they dominated across the board.

"At the moment the Eastern Europeans are also strong competition, especially for the boys because of their maturity and physical strength. But we have selected a strong team and several of our competitors have proven their ability to win medals at this level,” she added.

Whitburn Judo Club's Craig Stewart, who has been selected to compete in the -81kg weight category, should prove to be a strong member of the squad. Stewart won gold in the Dutch Youth Cup in 2006 and silver in the 2006 Belfort International tournament.

Wolverhampton Judo Club’s Gemma Howell will compete in the -57kg weight category. She has proven herself at this level winning gold medals in the British Elite Performance Trials and in the National Cadet Championships. She also gained valuable experience recently when she was selected as part of the senior squad for the GB World Cup.

Following the World Schools Judo Championships, Samurai Judo Club’s Kelly Edwards will compete in the -48 kg weight category. She managed to overcome the strength of a German competitor to win bronze, and won a second bronze in the Dutch Youth Cup in April.

Rowena Birch said, “These Championships are useful for providing our future top internationals with experience of the highest level, as it is run on the same format as a Junior and Senior level Championships, attracting the best competitors from all over Europe. Although this will no doubt be daunting, they are fully prepared to put in their best performance, and I am confident that they will all perform to their potential”.

Full Team