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TWO elite St Helens judoka from the SKK club compete in next week’s World Championships in Budapest with all eyes fixed on securing the one Olympic qualifying place in the -63kg category.

The Worlds, running from 5-13 June, is the last chance for Amy Livesey and Lucy Renshall to stake their claim for that solitary seat on the plane to the Games in Tokyo, meaning heartbreak for one and joy for another.

Renshall is currently best placed, approximately 500 points ahead of Amy Livesey on the ranking list, but that could change with a podium finish for either fighter.

The 25-year-old Renshall approaches the tournament with some confidence after last year’s competition wipe-out.

The Eccleston fighter has been building back up since the start of the year – with the highlight so far being the Grand Prix gold medal in Antalya.

She said: “When we started back training last year after lockdown I knew we had to get through, train really hard because come January we would be competing.

“In January I had a really tough draw in the Masters but I still performed really well so felt really good in myself.

“Every competition I have had since I feel has gone great.

“I could see a medal coming the way I was performing.

“I was disqualified in Tel Aviv but that was a mistake because I had been practising new techniques through lockdown and turned my opponent wrong and it was the way they landed.

“I was really frustrated because I felt really good that day but just had to put it behind me and move on.

“Each time I got better, Georgia I felt amazing and thought I’d get a medal but lost the bronze. I was fighting again six days later in Turkey, but did not fight my best because I was exhausted.

“But I knew I was ready and that is why I ended up winning.”

Amy Livesey's thoughts on World Championship>

But now it comes to the competition that will ultimately decide whether she will be fulfilling her childhood dreams and making the cut for the Games.

She explained: “Even though I know it’s bigger - I say in my head it is just another competition and try and play it like that.

“I am in a good position, but we don’t know until the day.

“The first stage criteria is a World placing, so if either of us get fifth or above, it does not matter about the ranking list, they will go first and then the second criteria is the ranking list.”

It is quite an unusual twist of fate that the place should be between two women from the same club.

“It is difficult but good at the same time,” said Renshall.

Like Livesey, Renshall is based at the Judo Centre of Excellence in Walsall – and has been for seven years.

“I have known Amy my whole judo career since I started at SKK at the age of 8. Amy was there at my first class.

“In an ideal situation it would be perfect for me and Amy to go the games together, representing Great Britain and SKK as well.

“But we just know that can’t happen.

“A lot of the team know they will be going (to the Olympics) because they have not got the competition for a spot

“But me and Amy don’t know that.

“That motivates me to carry on training hard and putting the work in.

“it is not over for me and I have really got to try hard – it is difficult but motivating at the same time.”

And what a prize at stake – a place at the Olympic Games in Japan of all places which makes it even more special in judo circles.

Renshall said: “The Olympics has been my dream since I was little – and I am so close to it but I do try and put it to the back of my head because I am not there yet and there is a chance I could not make it.

“My first World Championships (before Covid lockdown) was in Japan and that was a re-run for the Olympics.

“The whole nation was amazing, it is a place where everyone would want to do the Olympics so it does make it special.”