GB Judo announce squad for IBSA worlds

Double Paralympic medallist Sam Ingram will lead GB Judo’s eight-person squad for the IBSA World Judo Championships in Portugal next month.

Ingram – who won silver in London and bronze in Beijing at -90kg – is one of five judoka with Paralympic experience in the team, along with Natalie Greenhough, Daniel Powell, Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson.

Connah Anders, Evan Molloy and Elliot Stewart, who will all make their World Championship debuts in Portugal, make up the eight, providing a mixture of youth and experience to the squad.

And British Judo Performance Director Nigel Donohue stressed that there is plenty of preparation ahead.

“As always, we’re excited to take on the best in the world at a major championships,” he said.

“The standard of visually impaired judo is improving year on year but our judoka are showing that they are of the level with some fantastic results in this cycle.

“There’s still a lot of hard work to be done ahead of Odivelas but we’re confident that if everyone performs to their best then the results will come.”

Skelley will arrive in Portugal hoping to repeat the gold medal he won at the European Championships in Walsall last year.

And the 25-year-old continued his form into the Judo World Cups, taking silvers in Tashkent and Atyrau.

Ingram also enters the championships after a run of excellent results following his move up to the -100kg division.

He won gold in Tashkent and took silver at the Antalya World Cup in April, a city where he had previously won World Championship silver back in 2010 – a result he will be hoping to better this time around.

The IBSA World Judo Championships run from 16-18 November in Odivelas.