British Judo and the European Judo Union (EJU) are ready to host the European Open for women this Saturday at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow – the biggest judo-only event in the UK this year.
The action takes place throughout Saturday 4th October and will be one of the highlights of this year’s British Judo events calendar.
Overall, 82 athletes, representing 17 nations including Japan and France have confirmed their attendance and will look to gain valuable world ranking points in their quest to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Among the entries are five 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games champions, three silver and four bronze medallists. Competing against the strong British team will be athletes from around the globe including European, World and Olympic medallists.
France is sending a large team of 18 and there will be representation from Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Luxemberg, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Italy, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary and Ireland, even as far afield as Ghana and the USA. Japan will also be making the 5,700 mile journey to join the long list of teams from across three continents.
Commonwealth medallists from Great Britain including Kelly Edwards (-52kg), Louise Renicks (-52kg), Nekoda Davis (-57kg), Connie Ramsay (-57kg), Steph Inglis (-57kg), Jemima Yeats-Brown (-63kg), Sally Conway (-70kg), Megan Fletcher (-70kg), Natalie Powell (-78kg), Sarah Adlington (+78kg) and Jodie Myers (+78kg) have all confirmed entry. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist for Northern Ireland Lisa Kearney, fighting at -52kg, will return to Glasgow this time competing for the Republic of Ireland. Another big continental name is world bronze medallist Sanne Verhagen of the Netherlands competing in the -57kg category. Camberley based Ghanaian Szandra Szogedi is also targeting a medal at this event, returning Glasgow, following her disappointment at the Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile, under 70kg Olympic silver medallist at London 2012 Kerstin Thiele of Germany will be in action, this time in the -78kg class.
A seven-strong Japanese team will be competing across every weight category, including Miri Toda (-48kg), Miki Watanabe (-52kg), Megumi Ishikawa (-57kg), Nozomi Hirari (-63kg), Haruka Yasumatsu (-70kg) Shori Hamada (-78kg) and Nodoka Shiraishi (+78kg).
British Judo and the EJU look forward to welcoming all these athletes and their supporters to Scotland. Glasgow will be the home of British Judo’s major events for the next three years including the European Judo Championships in April 2015.
Tune into the action at EJU.net and follow it on the EJU and British Judo’s social media channels – Facebook and Twitter (#GEOJ14). The final block action will also be broadcast live on Premier Sports, SKY channel 428 and on Virgin channel 551.
