GB judoka set for Paris Grand Slam
The IJF World Tour heads to France this weekend for the first Grand Slam of the year.
Long regarded as one of the highlights in the judo calendar, the Paris Grand Slam will stage over 500 judoka in the iconic Accor Arena. 8 GB judoka will feature over the weekend as they seek to gain valuable Olympic qualification points to secure their place on Team GB to return to Paris in 2024.
Saturday 4th – 07:00am Preliminary | 16:00 Final Block
World number one Lucy Renshall (SKK; Pete Blood) gets her 2023 season underway in the French capital as she competes in her 7th Paris Grand Slam.
The 2021 silver medallist has an opening round bye before facing Inbal Shemesh (ISR) in round two.
Acelya Toprak (Metro JC/ Relentless Judo; Darren Hawney/ Fitzroy Davies) and Lele Nairne (Bradley Stoke; Pete Douglas) will both be in action in the -57kg category as they both made their Paris Grand Slam debuts.
Toprak, who competes for the first time in 2023 has an opening round bye, before a round two contest against Seija Ballhaus (GER).
Meanwhile, Nairne, who opened her 2023 campaign at the Portugal Grand Prix last weekend, has a round two contest against Pihla Salonen (FIN) also after an opening round bye.
Eric Ham (Glossop JC; Geoff Ham) is another athlete making their Paris debut this weekend. The -73kg judoka also opened his 2023 campaign at the Portugal Grand Prix in Almada last weekend. Drawn in Pool B, Ham will face Lova Mahaisoa Randrianasolo (MAD) in round one.
Sunday 5th – 07:00am Preliminary | 16:00 Final Block
Natalie Powell (Irfon JC) competes at her eighth Paris Grand Slam. With a bronze medal and five 7th place finishes at the event she enters this year as 4th seed and will face either Liz Ngelebeya (FRA) or Yuliia Kurchenko (UKR) following an opening round bye.
Following his 7th place finish at the Portugal Grand Prix, Lachlan Moorhead (Sheffield JC; Matt Moorhead) is in action in the -81kg category. Moorhead will face Tim Gramkow (GER) in the opening round.
In the -90kg category, Jamal Petgrave (Westcroft JC; Andy Ede) makes his second appearance at the Paris Grand Slam.
Drawn in Pool C, Petgrave has an opening round bye before facing Didar Khamza (KAZ).
Rhys Thompson (Enfield JC; George Hyslop) makes his Paris Grand Slam debut in the -100kg category. Thompson faces 3rd seed Shady Elnahas (CAN) in round two, following an opening round bye.
We will also see British referee Lisa Rivers officiating this weekend in her second Grand Slam event, after making her World Tour refereeing debut in Abu Dhabi last year.
You can watch all the action from the Paris Grand Slam LIVE at live.ijf.org each day.
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