In the second edition of the Birmingham Junior European Cup, the Great Britain team are ready to welcome another 17 nations to compete over the 15th and 16th of June 2024, a total of 281 athletes will be battling it out for gold this upcoming weekend.
There are some very strong hopes for the British delegation, including top ranked; Luke DAVIES in the -73kg category, an already established junior athlete, ranked #4 in the WRL. Following some time away from competition to tend to injury, he returned strong in Kaunas most recently, claiming a silver medal. The Junior European medallist will have the support of the home crowd in Birmingham.
In fact, the Kaunas Junior European Cup was one of the most successful for the British team, taking home a total of 10 medals, including a gold medal from Holly DEVALL in the -70kg category. Devall now has the chance to take glory at home and remaining medallists; Charlie AYRE (-60kg), Summer SHAW (-48kg), Irakli GOGINASHVILI (-73kg), Benjamin LEVY (-73kg), Charlotte JENMAN (-57kg), Anya HASSAN (-78kg) and Eryk NEUMANN (-81kg) will be raring to go and improve their previous results.
Not only is this an opportunity to showcase their top talents and medal hopes, but this is a great chance for some of their cadet athletes to see how they fare in the next age bracket. Eva EWING usually competes in the -44kg category and has been a regular Cadet European Cup medallist in 2024. This will also be useful preparation as we look forward to the Cadet European Championships in Sofia at the end of the month.
Aside from the strong British entry, there are some other well known names arriving to continue their medal hauls. Impressively, 18 year-old Kinga CHMIELEWSKA (POL) in the -57kg category is three for three so far this year, medalling in all of her junior endeavours including a gold in Podgorica. Poland are sending are a strong front, with the likes of Ksawery IGNASIAK (-60kg), Daniela BADURA (-63kg) and Michal WASIKOWSKI (-90kg). The Netherlands team can boast multiple top seeds including Flores DEN HARTOG (-90kg), Joni GEILEN (-63kg) and Joshua DE LANGE (-81kg) and Linde HANSTEDE (-78kg).
Davit KEVLISHVILI (ESP) gave a great performance in the Madrid European Open, though lost out to the eventual silver medallist; Grzegorz TERESINSKI (POL) who managed to best Teddy RINER (FRA) for a moment in the final. Kevlishvili has been showing consistency this year and will continue to show that in Birmingham this weekend.
The live draw will take place on Friday 14th of June at 20:00 and can be followed at JudoTV.com.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen