Conway leads British judo hopes at Paris Grand Slam

Not since Craig Fallon took gold in 2003 have Britain topped the podium at the event, with Conway and Natalie Powell both securing bronze medals two years ago.

The pair will be back in action in the French capital at the start of February, headlining a ten-strong squad bidding for the 1000 world ranking points on offer.

With qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games starting just a couple of months after, there could hardly be a more important time to start the year with a bang.

Conway and Powell will be joined in Paris by Nekoda Smythe-Davis, Commonwealth champion as well as world bronze medallist following her impressive showing in Budapest last year.

Bekky Livesey, who finished seventh in last year's European Championships, will make her debut in the competition, as will Jemima Yeats-Brown, whose ACL injury is now a thing of the past.

Lucy Renshall will look to back up her under 63kg top-five finish last year when she returns to the mat, in the same weight category as Amy Livesey who also enjoyed a promising 2017.

She is alongside Bekky Livesey in the under 57kg category, while Conway and Powell will compete in under 70kg and under 78kg events respectively.

Sarah Adlington, Ashley McKenzie and Philip Awiti-Alcaraz make up the remainder of the squad, with British Judo performance director Nigel Donohue hopeful of building on the form of the past 12 months.

"As we move into 2018, we can reflect on that we enjoyed a very successful 2017 across all major championships at both junior and senior level," he said.

"It is critically important that we build on our success from previous years and now very much look forward to the year ahead starting with the prestigious Paris Grand Slam.

"Paris is one event that all judoka look forward to with the aim to have a medal on their career CV. This year will be no different to previous years as we expect it to be a world class field of which we feel confident that our team can compete and perform against.

"I am sure that we will put in strong performances in the first Grand Slam of 2018 as we look forward to the Olympic qualification campaign starting later in the year."

Sportsbeat 2018