By Paul Osborne

Judo Wales has named the 10 judoka set to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow ©Getty ImagesJudo Wales today announced the 10-strong team to represent Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The team will be led by under 81 kilogram competitor and national team coach Craig Ewers , the only member to have previous Commonwealth Games experience, having competed at Manchester 2002, the last occasion the sport featured on the programme.

"It's fantastic to see judo back on the Commonwealth Games schedule, it's been 12 years and the sport has developed a lot in that time," said Ewers

"We have selected a really strong squad to represent Wales in Glasgow and we're all going out there to compete to the best of our abilities and to hopefully bring medals back with us."

Ewers is among seven men to be included in the squad, with three women also named to the team.

World number 10, Natalie Powell will be a potential medal favourite for the Welsh as she heads into the Games following impressive results in this season International Judo Federation (IJF) World tour.

The 23-year-old sealed bronze at the IJF Grand Prix in Düsseldorf, Germany in February, before adding silver at the Grand Prix event in Samsun Turkey a month later.

Powell will be amongst nine Commonwealth Games debutants in the Welsh team and is set to compete in the under 78kg category, the same class as Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons of England.

Natalie Powell will be full of confidence heading into Glasgow 2014 following her silver and bronze medals in this year's IJF Grand Tour and silver at the European Open in Rome ©Getty ImagesNatalie Powell will be full of confidence heading into Glasgow 2014 following her silver and bronze medals in this year's IJF Grand Tour and silver at the European Open in Rome ©Getty Images



Natalie's sister, Kirsty Powell, will also be competing for Wales in the 57kg class and 19 year-old Jade Lewis, under 52kg, who recently competed in both the Junior World and European Championships, completes the team of three women.

Kyle Davies and Jamie MacDonald, under 66kg; Curtis Dodge and Connor Ireland under 73kg; Ruslan Rancev, under 100kg; and Mark Shaw, over 100kg, make up the team of 10.

Chris Jenkins, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, said: "The nature of the Commonwealth Games programme often means that a number of sports often miss out on the chance to compete.

"It is brilliant to see that judo is back on the schedule, giving our strong team of judoka the opportunity to do their country proud.

"For nine members of the team it will be their first major multi-sport competition and it will be a great experience for them all."

Wales won six medals in judo at the 2002 Commonwealth Games - two silvers through Jo Melon and Angharad Sweet, and four bronze by virtue of Luke Preston, Gary Cole, Timothy Davies and Claire Scourfield.

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