Shropshire Star

Judo stars eye gold at World Championships

Three Shropshire and Powys judoka stars have been selected in Great Britain’s team of eight for the World Championships next month.

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Gemma Howell, Natalie Powell and Sarah Adlington have been included in head coach Kate Howey’s team for the showpiece event in Budapest, Hungary next month.

The trio’s inclusion provides their 2020 Tokyo Olympic bids a real boost, having been included in the team as GB bosses agreed the World Championships team would consist of fighters in direct or continental quota for the Olympic qualification positions.

The world event is the final Olympic qualification event, while fighters will also aim to secure top eight seeding for Tokyo, to ensure a more favourable Olympic draw.

Howell, from Telford, will make her sixth World Championships appearance having made her debut in Tokyo in 2010 and competes at -70kg.

The Wolverhampton Judo Club player will turn 31 on the final day of the championships, on June 13. She claimed a bronze medal in the Paris Grand Slam in February 2020.

Welsh player Powell, who is from Powys, will take part in her seventh World Championships and has fond memories of the venue, having memorably won a bronze medal in the same event in Budapest in 2017.

Powell, 30, competes for Builth Wells-based judo club Irfon and will fight in the -78kg category.

Completing the trio is Shrewsbury’s Adlington, the experienced Edinburgh-based player will also compete in her seventh World Championships.

Adlington, who turns 35 in the summer, finished fifth in Baku in the competition in 2018 in her +78kg weight category. She was last among the ranking medals with a bronze in the Tashkent Grand Prix in 2019.

The Championships are due to begin on June 6 and run through until June 13.

Head coach Howey, the only British female judoka to win two Olympic medals, said: “I am delighted to be selecting such a strong team of fighters for the World Championships. It will be a different feeling heading to a World Championships knowing we have another major event to follow but one that I know our fighters are relishing.

“This past year has been a difficult period for all, but I am proud of how our fighters have responded and of their performances this year.”

GB performance director Nick Donohue admitted the prospect of a World Championships on the eve of an Olympic Games was a unique one, but provided crucial qualification point opportunities and the potential to create history in becoming both a world and Olympic medalist in the same year.