Powys' Natalie Powell on hunt for more European joy as France 2023 looms
Welsh judoka Natalie Powell is poised to head to France in search of another European Championship medal.
The 33-year-old, from Beulah in Powys, is part of the GB ranks set for Montpellier looking to improve on her haul of three bronze medals from previous stagings.
For Powell it is a first major event since May’s World Championship in Doha, Qatar, where the -78kg weight category fighter fell at the first hurdle against Italian Giorgia Stangherlin. Powell, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist from Birmingham 2022, is part of the eight-women GB squad, alongside team-mate Emma Reid, who competes at the same weight.
Action in the southern French city gets under way on Friday, November 3 and runs until Sunday, November 5. The draw is yet to come. Irfon Judo Club member Powell will compete alongside Chelsie Giles, Nekoda Smythe-Davis, Lele Nairne, Lucy Renshall, Kelly Petersen-Pollard and Reid.
Powell claimed three consecutive European bronzes between 2016 and 2018, with third-placed efforts in Kazan, Warsaw and Tel Aviv.
Other recent form has seen seventh-placed finishes in the Paris and Baku Grand Slams.
