Stuart McWatt has been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Judo Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria between April 29 and May 1.
McWatt, who hails from Inverurie, will return to the GB fold for the competition after injury dashed his hopes of competing at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
The 24-year-old is one of three Scottish judoka who have been named in the 17-strong squad, as Alex Short and Dylan Munro will also be travelling to Sofia for the competition.
McWatt will compete in the -81kg weight category, where he will be looking to better his seventh-placed finish at the competition in 2019.
In the -66kg category, Short will make his debut at the European Championships following his gold medal at the Dubrovnik European Cup in 2021, while Munro will debut as a reserve at -60kg.
Pride in performance during quality year
Euan Burton, Scottish High Performance Judo coach, said: “I would like to
congratulate Dylan, Alex and Stuart on their selections for the 2022 European
Championships.
“JudoScotland are exceptionally proud of the hard work they
continue to display and their selections are a representation of the performances
they have delivered over a season where the depth and quality of international
fields has been incredible, as all European senior judoka return to international
competition following the pandemic.
8️⃣ fighters added to the team for the upcoming @europeanjudo Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria#WeAreGBJudo🇬🇧🥋https://t.co/GUjD3azSFJ
— #WeAreGBJudo🇬🇧🥋 (@BritishJudo) April 6, 2022
“Stuart will return to the major stage keen to step on the podium and improve upon
his multiple top-7 finishes at previous junior and senior European Championships,
whilst Alex will finally make his senior championship debut after having been
selected previously for the pandemic hit 2020 Europeans.
“Although a potentially frustrating position to be in, the nomination of Dylan Munro
as reserve at -60kg is certain recognition of his continual improvement and multiple
podium finishes on the European Tour in 2021/2022.
“We at JudoScotland would like to wish them and the entire GB team the very best
of luck at this prestigious event.”
