They may not have been on the plane to the Beijing Olympics, but three young Shropshire judo stars will still be in action for Great Britain this year.Telford duo Gemma Howell and Kelly Edwards have both been named in the women’s squads for the junior European and World Championships, which are for competitors aged 20 and under.
Shrewsbury’s Danny Williams is also called up to compete at the Europeans in Poland and the World Championships in Thailand in the autumn.
Howell will compete in the under-52kgs section and Edwards the under-48kgs, while Williams will be testing himself against some of the world’s best juniors in the under-73kgs section.The call-ups mean more globe-trotting for the intrepid trio, with the Europeans taking place in Warsaw, Poland, from September 12 to 14, and the worlds in Bangkok on October 23 to 26.
The two girls were in Poland last weekend, to compete in an open competition in Cetniewo - though Edwards, from The Rock, was forced to pull out through injury.
But Priorslee-based Howell was able to compete, taking part in five fights but missing out on a medal.
She opened by defeating Latvia’s Liga Tera, holding her down for ippon in the first minute. And she won in the same fashion in her second contest, against Magdelana Korfanty of Poland.
The winning run came to an end in her third fight, though, which was against Hungary’s Hedvig Karakas - the European junior No 1 and eventual gold medalist.
Howell ran her close, taking the contest to golden score, where she lost in the final minute.
That put her into the repechage, where she defeated France’s Heloise Lacouchie by Wizarri and Yuko.
But she missed out on a place in the bronze medal match as she then lost in a controversial contest to European No 3 Hannah Bruck of Germany.
Howell was initially given the point for a throw, but the decision was then reversed with Bruck benefiting instead - and that proved decisive.
Both Howell and Edwards have remained in Poland for a GB training camp.
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