Great Britain's final round of selection for the 2018 World Judo Championships has placed four young judoka under the wing of Olympic medallist Sally Conway.
Chelsie Giles, Jemima Yeats-Brown, Stuart McWatt and Wesley Greenidge will all debut at the prestigious competition in Baku from 20-27 September.
All have endured differing journeys to reach judo’s pinnacle; Yeats-Brown was told she was not graceful enough to be a gymnast and has still proved doubters wrong after switching sports.
The quartet, all under the age of 23, are set to fight in the individual categories in Azerbaijan and provide an injection of youth into a squad already full of experience.
Locked in are Rio 2016 bronze medallist Conway, Nekoda Smythe-Davis and Natalie Powell – both on the podium at the last World Championships in 2017.
Now benefitting from a second round of additions are London 2012 Olympian Danny Williams, Amy Livesey and Max Stewart.
“There’s always a buzz whenever the World Championships come around,” said British Judo Performance Director Nigel Donohue,
“Last year we enjoyed great success with two bronze medals, our first podium finishes since 2010.
“There’s real strength in depth in our women’s team at the moment. The fact that we are filling all nine spaces for female judoka is very exciting.
“As is the fact that those nine athletes, and our reserve, have a really strong performance record and are consistently performing at Grand Prix level and higher.
“Preparation has been good and we’re confident that, with the calibre of athletes we’ve selected, if everyone performs to the best of their abilities then the results will come.”
Sportsbeat 2018