Craig Fallon to represent GB in Hungary

Former World Champion Craig Fallon will make his return to the International World Circuit at the 2011 Budapest World Cup next weekend having been selected for the British team for the first time after a two year break from the sport.

It is his first selection under British Judo’s Head Coach Patrick Roux to represent Great Britain since 2009.

The 2005 World Champion made his return with a change in weight category at the 2011 Senior British Trials in January and will fight in the -66kg competition in Budapest.

Roux said, “Competing at his new weight, it will be important to assess Craig’s return to this level of international competition after a long break and to see how he is adjusting at -66kg.”

After self-funded trips to the 2010 Swedish European Cup and 2010 Finnish Open last year, and impressing at the Senior Trials, this event will be Fallon’s first step on the road to a place in London 2012.

The event, which will be held on the 12th -13th February in the Hungarian capital, will also see Ashley McKenzie, Tom Davis, Andrew Burns and James Austin compete in the first World Cup of the year.

With a gold medal win at the British Senior Trials, Tom Davis will be looking to put in another top performance in the -81kg weight category, as Roux selects him for the first time since his bronze medal win at the 2010 Slovenian European Cup in June.

James Austin cemented his place on the team in the -100kg weight category by winning gold at the British Trials and picking up a silver medal a week later at the 2011 Belgium Open.

Andrew Burns also medalled at both events, taking silver at the British Trials and winning a bronze medal in Belgium, and will contest the -90kg category.

Much to McKenzie’s disappointment, he was unable to compete at the Senior Trials after picking up a back injury. After working closely with EIS and BJPI support staff, the -60kg fighter is ready to return to action.

On the selection, Performance Director Margaret Hicks said, “We have entered the Intensification Phase of the programme with 18 months left to the Olympic Games. For a number of players the plan is geared toward performance at the European Championships in April and of course the World Championships in Paris in August.“

GB’s first major outing of the year was the 2011 Paris Grand Slam last weekend where Gemma Howell (-57kg), Gemma Gibbons (-70kg) and Sarah Adlington (+78kg) competed.

Howell and Adlington both reached the second round, Howell beat Juul Franssen (NED) and lost to Olympic Champion Guilia Quintavalle (ITA) and Adlington beat Janina Penders (NED) and lost to World Ranked no.7 Na-Young Kim (KOR).

Gibbons suffered a tough first round draw against -70kg World Ranked no.7 Haruka Tachimoto.

© Mike Varey

Craig Fallon at the 2011 Senior British Trials