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Three of Britain’s top
fighters have been selected to head out to Dusseldorf this Friday,
to compete in the first Grand Prix of the season.
The tournament, taking
place on the 20 th -21 st February, is just one of four Grand
Prix’s on the International Judo Federation’s calendar, joining
Tunis, Beijing and Abu Dhabi.
Selected to compete in
the -63kg weight category is Sarah Clark. In 2008 Clark finished
in 7 th place at the German Grand Prix held in Hamburg, but she
has since produced some notable results, including her silver
medal win at the 2009 European Championships.
“This is the last big event
before the European Championships for me to fight some of the
best players, including some from Asia.
“This Grand Prix will be
as heavily loaded as the Paris Grand Slam was with high ranking
players. It will be a good opportunity to get a feel of where
I am at in preparation for my key events later in the year.”
After sustaining a wrist
injury at the Paris Grand Slam less than two weeks ago, World
silver medallist Karina Bryant (+78kg) has had to withdraw from
the competition. Fellow +78kg judoka Sarah Adlington, who recently
won a bronze medal at the Sofia World Cup, will step up to the
mat and take on the women’s heavyweight category.
The final player selected
is -81kg judoka Euan Burton. After finishing last year off with
an impressive surge at the Tokyo Grand Slam in December, and taking
the gold medal, Burton looks to be in a strong position.
The trio who usually train
at Ratho in Edinburgh, which is part of the BJPI’s network, prepared
for the weekend’s competition by joining the rest of the British
team and welcomed the Brazilian team as guests at a training camp
at the Performance Institute in Dartford.
Commenting on the small
selection, Head Coach Patrick Roux said, “To reinforce, our one
goal is London 2012 and the German Grand Prix is one tournament
to assist with this process – this time we have just three players
competing at this event and we continue to look for progressions
at this elite level.”
Media Contact:
Nicola Turner
British Judo Association
(t) 01509 631692
nicolaturner@britishjudo.org.uk
©
David Finch
Sarah
Adlington at the 2009 GB World Cup
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