Max Cater aims to make up for lost time as part of Great Britain’s small but perfectly formed squad at the Austrian Open in Innsbruck this weekend.

It’s nearly six months since Cater underwent end of season surgery and he has fought only once since-at the German Open in Hamburg back in April.

His return ended in the second round and the London born, Southampton raised youngster hopes for more progress this time, especially with a global aim to fulfil by the end of the year.

“It’s been really difficult watching my team mates go away for competitions,” said Cater, joined in the -57kg division by Josh Calland.

Former Commonwealth champion, Jade Slavin, makes up the three strong side at -73kg-only her second event of 2016.

“I only had two weeks training before going to Germany so I knew it wouldn’t be easy. And because I haven’t fought much my ranking has dropped from 25th in January to around 33.

“I was disappointed to miss last month’s European Championship. So, the goal now is to try and qualify for the World Grand Prix final in Beijing at the end of the year.

“Only the top 32 qualify so I have got some work to do. But hopefully I can do well here and get some decent results at the Greek Open which is coming up.”

With tournaments running out before this summer’s Rio Olympics, the Austrian Open has attracted a strong field. “There is a Thai player and one from Brazil fighting at -58kg,” confirmed Cater. “I’ll probably only get to meet them in the final so that’s another reason to do well.”

Schedule:

Sunday (June 5):

Male:

-58kg: Josh Calland (Liverpool), Mat Cater (Southampton)

Female:

-73kg: Jade Slavin (Consent)