The South Caucasus country of Georgia has been preparing its 30-strong Olympic squad for the upcoming Games in London, according to sources at the sports ministry of the country.

The team will be headed by the country's 2008 Olympic gold medallist judoka Irakli Tsirekidze who has been banned by the International Judo Federation for three months from February this year for testing positive of a banned substance.

Irakli Tsirekidze, also a 2007 world champion, is not the only medal hopeful in the British capital later this month as he will be accompanied by the country's three bronze medallists from the Beijing Games - Otar Tushishvili and Giorgi Gogshelidze, both in the freestyle wrestling discipline and Nino Salukvadze, Georgia's one and only woman to have ever won an Olympic medal. She finished third in Beijing in shooting.

The Georgian Olympians have either won their berths or been allocated slots, like its two tennis players, to compete in London, where they will contest in 10 sports of archery, athletics, boxing, judo, shooting, swimming, tennis, trampoline, weightlifting, and wrestling.

The Georgians are known for their wrestling insight and techniques, as out of the 18 medals won so far from the Olympics, half were from wrestling, be it the Greco-Roman style or freestyle. The Georgians also captured five medals in judo.

Georgia started to compete in the Olympic Games as an independent state in 1994 and so far also won four medals from boxing, shooting and weightlifting events.

Local pundits and fans expect medals from the Georgian judokas and wrestlers in London. They say that other competitors had better not slight the Georgians who are born wrestlers and judokas.