Wales star Jasmine Joyce is among 11 Welsh athletes selected to represent Team GB at the 2023 European Games.
Double Olympian Joyce, 27, is eyeing her third Olympic Games appearance in Paris next year, and is joined in the GB Rugby Sevens squad by men's players Morgan and Tom Williams.
The multi-discipline sports event will take place in Krakow, Poland, from June 21 to July 2. Qualification for Paris 2024 is on the line for 16 of the 18 sports Team GB is competing in during the European Games.
Tokyo 2020 taekwondo silver medallist Lauren Williams and double gold medallist Jade Jones are selected, along with boxers Rosie Eccles and Taylor Bevan. The Welsh line-up for the European Games is completed by shooters Ben Llewellin and Georgina Roberts, table tennis player Charlotte Carey and triathlete Olivia Matthias.
Superfast winger Joyce, capped 31 times for Wales, was one of the historic first 12 players to be awarded full-time professional XVs contracts by the Welsh Rugby Union in 2022, but weeks after returning home from the Rugby World Cup that year, she left Ioan Cunningham's Wales programme to pursue Sevens with GB alongside Wales full-back Kayleigh Powell.
Both Joyce and Powell were called up for GB ahead of the latest Sevens World Series, with Joyce playing 30 matches and scoring 21 tries across a total of seven tournaments between December and May.
Bristol Bears star Joyce has been a standout player for GB since making her debut in 2015, becoming the first Welsh woman to play rugby on the Olympic stage after the sport was reintroduced for the 2016 Games in Rio. She also impressed at Tokyo 2020, scoring seven tries as the team finished fourth overall.
The third edition of the European Games will begin on June 21, with around 7,000 athletes from 48 nations competing across a 12-day sporting programme.
Speaking about her decision to walk away from Wales' 15s programme last year, Joyce said she was "gutted to be leaving" but explained how she couldn't say no to the "dream" opportunity to become a three-time Olympian.
"I’ve loved every second of my Sevens experiences in the past and to be able to do it full-time gives us a fantastic chance to be as competitive as possible," she said at the time. "I’m gutted to be leaving the Wales set-up which has gone from strength to strength and I’m sad to leave the girls but Sevens certainly plays to my strengths at the moment and to have the chance to push for another Olympic Games is certainly a dream of mine, something I couldn’t turn down.”
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