With the 2012 Olympic Games just two years away, British players will be battling it out on the Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th January at the U20 and Senior Trials, in compound knockout format for the first time in many years, to gain a place on the U20 and Senior British Squads.

The event will once again take place at EIS Sheffield and the top four players in each weight category will automatically gain a place on the British Squads.

Fresh from his Tokyo Grand Slam gold medal win, Scottish player Euan Burton will be competing at -81kg in the seniors, as will Tom Reed, who challenged Euan in the 2009 GB World Cup final, but settled for silver.

Also hoping to make an impact in the -81kg category will be 2009 UK School Games and British Championships gold medallist Tom Williams. Williams, at 18 years of age, will also be competing in the U20 Trials on the Saturday, aiming to qualify for a place on both squads, allowing him to compete in junior and senior events across the world.

Meanwhile, Visually Impaired European silver medallist Ben Quilter will try to fulfil his ambition of making the sighted British Squad, as will Beijing Paralympic bronze medallist Sam Ingram. Quilter will appear in the -60kg weight category, as does Ashley McKenzie, who won a bronze medal at the U23 European Championships just before Christmas.

In the women’s competition, World silver medallist Karina Bryant will compete in the +78kg weight category.

Once again, the largest women’s category is that of the -57kg. With Gemma Howell out by injury, who dominated the -57kg weight category last year in both the senior and junior trials, the mat is left open to players such as Nadia Minardi, and Connie Ramsay who has dropped down to -57kg from last year when she competed in the -63kg contest.

Beijing and Athens Olympian Sarah Clark will be competing at -63kg, while 2009 Minsk World Cup gold medallist Sally Conway is in the -70kg weight category joined by Megan Fletcher, Natalie Powell and 2009 U23 European Championships bronze medallist Gemma Gibbons.

Competing on the Saturday in the U20 Trials, Sam Potts, who won Hampshire’s Michael Austin Harlick Outstanding Sportsperson Award for 2009, will fight in the -81kg.

Thirteen 2009 British Championships gold medallists in the U20 competition will compete in their respective weight categories, including Ronnie Plumb in +100kg category, the smallest entry of the men’s competition, Lucas Rowe (-60kg), Chloe Jackson (-52kg), and Sophie Sandy in the -57kg category, the largest of the women’s U20 competition.

British Championships Cadet gold medallists Kyle Sweet (-60kg), Freya Dechastelain (-48kg), Emma Pitt (-44kg) will fight for their chance to join the Junior Squad, as will Becky Livesey who will compete in the -63kg weight category along with Jade Williams and Kerry Ford.

Karen Roberts, Performance Operations Manager said, “As we come to a close with the Foundation Period and enter the Transitional Period of the Olympic cycle, we will now be putting an emphasis on preparation of players for the milestone event, the 2010 World Championships in September. The European Championships in April will serve as a benchmark.

“In view of this shift to the Transition Period, the GB Trials will provide an opportunity to observe emerging players with potential, who could possibly reach a place in the elite group and allow us to identify our full 2010 National Squad. “

Media Contact:

Nicola Turner

British Judo Association

(t) 07854 244343

nicola.turner@britishjudo.org.uk

© Mike Varey