Sarah Adlington picks up Grand Prix bronze
Judoka Sarah Adlington (+78kg) won her first Grand Prix medal for three years as GB finished with a total of nine in Cancun.
Adlington, from Shrewsbury, hadn’t fought in international competition in more than a year and took on Croatia’s Ivana Sutalo first up. Sutalo pulled off one of the biggest throws of the day to win the contest which dropped Adlington into the bronze medal contest.
There she was scheduled to face Rochele Nunes, but the Brazilian had picked up an injury, leaving Adlington to pick up her first Grand Prix medal since 2014.
Natalie Powell (-78kg) picked up the 15th Grand Prix medal of her career with silver. In a smaller field, Powell, from Powys, went straight into the semi-finals where she was too good for Karen Leon.
She took on Brazil’s double Olympic bronze medallist Mayra Aguiar for gold with the two judoka having only met once so far. Aguiar won on that occasion and she made it two from two as she used her strength to good effect. She was able to catch Powell off balance and threw her for ippon, leaving the British judoka with silver.
