Olympic bronze medallist Conway set for competitive return

Conway took bronze in the women's 70kg event both in Brazil last summer and in Glasgow when she represented Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The 2013 British Olympic Association's Olympic Athlete of the Year will be joined in Romania by Paralympian and World silver medallist Jack Hodgson. Hodgson has undergone ankle surgery since the Paralympic games, so will be using the competition to prepare for the 2017 European Judo Championships. But the 20-year-old has been recovering well after recently spending two weeks at a training camp with the Mongolian Judo Association. Fellow visually impaired Paralympian Chris Skelley will join Hodgson in Bucharest, with both athletes participating in the 100kg category. Gemma Howell competed at 63kg in London 2012, but found no luck at this weight and was knocked out in the first round. So the 26-year-old now joins Conway at 70kg, having enjoyed more success in this category recently with bronze medals at the Oberwart European Open and the Antalya Grand Prix. This weekend's Open will provide another opportunity for Junior World No.1 Lubjana Piovesana to develop as a senior judoka, having also won bronze at the Antalya Grand Prix in April. Bekky Livesey was another who claimed bronze in Antalya and will compete once more at 57kg, a particularly strong area for Team GB with Malin Wilson also in this category and setting her sights on Tokyo 2020.

Sportsbeat 2017