Lulu Piovesana back on the mat but for Austria

Former European U23 Champion Lubjana Piovesana will be fighting for Austria. At the Olympic Training Centre she is training with the Austrian team, which is not a surprise as she has been living and training in Austria for the past two years. In Austria she lives with Austrian fighter Laurin Boehler.

In 2021 she officially left the British Judo Centre of excellence after 6 years. “I chose to leave British judo and then I lost my funding because I moved to Austria, and because I moved away I could not fight in any competitions. I had a bad time with British judo and that I was very isolated after an incident with a team player."

Although she lost her funding and was isolated for competitions and the team, she moved to Austria. There was no future for her in the UK and was contacted by a fellow younger player experiencing the same thing as she did. Now the future looks better for Piovesana being in the Austrian team. At the Sporthotel Kogler she will be training this week in the Austrian judogi. Piovesana is a daughter of an Italian father and Belgian mother. In 2017 she led the IJF World Ranking for Juniors.

Piovesana was U23 European Champion in 2018 in Gyor and won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Zagreb in 2017 after she took a bronze medal at the World Cadet Championships in 2013 in Miami. Piovesana competed for the last time in the IJF World Tour in Tashkent on behalf of British Judo. In 2019 she won her last international World Cup medal.

The IJF approved her switch on 17 January.