British Judo has selected 12 players to compete at Europe’s premier event for junior judoka, the 2011 Junior European Championships, from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 September in Lommel, Belgium.

For the first time on the junior circuit countries will be eligible to field two judoka per weight category, a rule which was introduced at the senior World Championships last year and was in effect at the 2011 senior European Championships in April.

In the -44kg category Hayley Willis will step up to the continent’s top junior stage after a tremendous run on the cadet circuit this year. The 15-year-old took bronze at the European Cadet Championships and the European Youth Olympics Festival ahead of an impressive fifth-place at the Cadet World Championships.

English Junior Open runner-up Jemima Duxberry, 16, will compete in the -57kg category.

European Cadets Champion and Cadet Worlds bronze medallist Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown, 16, will look for more honours in the -63kg category.

European Cadets Champion Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown (blue) in action
© Mike Varey

British Trials winner and Portugal Junior European Cup bronze medallist Amy Livesey, 17, will take to the -70kg category along with 18-year-old Sarah Biles who took silver at the English Junior Open.

Adam Conroy, 19, took bronze at the Hungarian Junior European Cup this year and competes at -60kg while club colleague and English Junior Open winner David Logan, 19, is in action at -73kg.

Max Stewart, 18, who has produced three Junior European Cup gold medals and one bronze in 2011, will look to add more silverware in the -73kg category.

Max Stewart (top left) as part of the Midlands' National Team Champions
© Mike Varey

Ben Fletcher, 19, a bronze medallist at Junior European Cup’s in Portugal and Austria, fights at -90kg alongside Jack Kelly who took a fifth-place in Hungary.

Philip Awiti, 18, a gold medallist in Portugal and fifth-place finisher in Germany, completes the selection at -100kg.

Nekoda Davis, 18, winner of the English Junior Open, British Trials and US Junior Open this year, was selected but has been ruled out through injury.

Performance Coach Darren Warner said: “The 2011 Junior European Championships provides us with a very exciting opportunity.

"This is the first time, at a junior level, two athletes have been able to compete per weight category. Whilst this will obviously lead to a more difficult tournament, it has also created more competition for places within the GB team.

"Almost all of the athletes we've selected have won at least one medal at a Junior European Cup this year and although it may be slightly harder than in previous years, I have a real belief that we have fighters capable of winning the European title.”

Full selection: