Eight British players selected to compete in the U23 European Championships

An eight man team, of four men and four women, has been selected to compete in the U23 European Championships, being held in Antalya, Turkey from 20th-22nd November.

Finishing in 5th place last year, Gemma Gibbons returns to contest the -70kg weight category. The Metro Judo Club player, who now trains full time at the Performance Institute in Dartford, has been on good form this year, recently winning a silver medal at the Swedish Open.

Gibbons also took the bronze medal at the 2009 World University Games, making her mark on the international university sport scene.

Also competing again this year, Kate Walker has been selected to fight in the -63kg competition. In the 2008 U23 Championships, Walker took 7th place and since then has won medals, including gold at the Holstein Open and silver at the English Senior Open.

Breaking though into the -90kg category and making his debut in the U23 Championships is Michael Horley. This event will be the biggest of Horley’s career, who this year won the gold medal at the International Venray Tournament and silver at the Quebec Senior Open.

Completing the line up are Ashley McKenzie (-60kg), Jean-Rene Badrick (-66kg), Jan Gosiewski (-73kg) and Samantha Clark (-52kg) and Connie Ramsay (-57kg) who train at Ratho, Edinburgh . Kimberley Renicks, who was originally selected, is out of action due to a shoulder injury and Theo Spalding-McIntosh (-100kg) is not fit to compete as he is still recovering from a recent knee operation.

Head Coach Patrick Roux said, “The European U23 Championships is a great opportunity for this group of transitional players to demonstrate that they could become the first challenger of their respective weight group for London 2012.

"The preparation has been interrupted by a number of injuries; some players who are coming from a club environment are not used to the volume of training. It is therefore very important for the future of British Judo, that when players are at the stage of the cadets and juniors, they ‘learn to train’ and ‘train to train'."

The players have been at a training camp at the British Judo Performance Institute, Dartford in preparation for the event and will fly out to Antalya on Wednesday 18th November.

Media Contact:

Nicola Turner

British Judo Association

(t) 01509 631695

nicola.turner@britishjudo.org.uk