Gibbons to lead the way at European Under-23s

BRITISH Judo head coach Patrick Roux has called on the nation's best junior talent to stake their claims for London 2012 at the European Under-23 Championships.

LEADING THE WAY: Gemma Gibbons will lead an eight-strong squad at the European Under-23 Championships

An eight-strong team has been selected for the tournament later this month, in Antalya, Turkey, with 2009 World University Games bronze medallist Gemma Gibbons leading the way.

Gibbons just missed out on a medal last time out, finishing fifth, but has been on top form this season, collecting silver at the Swedish Open, and will fly the flag in the -70kg category.

The squad has been based at the Performance Institute in Dartford in preparation and while Gibbons trains there full-time, a number of the other seven athletes are making a significant step up from their normal schedules.

But Roux believes that can only benefit Team GB in the long run.

"The European U23 Championships is a great opportunity for this group of transitional players to demonstrate that they could become the first challenger of their respective weight group for London 2012," he said.

"The preparation has been interrupted by a number of injuries; some players who are coming from a club environment are not used to the volume of training. 

"It is therefore very important for the future of British Judo, that when players are at the stage of the cadets and juniors, they ‘learn to train' and ‘train to learn'."

Joining Gibbons in the line-up is Kate Walker, selected in the -63kg while making his debut in the competition will be Michael Horley, who this year won the gold medal at the International Venray Tournament.

Completing the line up are Ashley McKenzie (-60kg), Jean-Rene Badrick (-66kg), Jan Gosiewski (-73kg) Samantha Clark (-52kg) and Connie Ramsay (-57kg).