NATALIE Powell (-78kg) of Irfon Judo Club, picked up the 15th Grand Prix medal of her career with a silver in Cancun.
Natalie went straight into the semi-finals where she was too good for Karen Leon (IJF), throwing her for a waza-ari and going straight into the hold down.
Natalie 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 out of two
in Cancun as she used her strength to good effect, where she was able to catch Natalie off balance and threw her for ippon leaving Natalie with silver, her third medal in a row.
Despite the defeat Natalie was very happy with her day’s work, including picking up some key tips from her rival.
The day secured Natalie a top-eight seeding for the World Championships, which was her main aim from the competition.
Natalie is now third in the World rankings and is looking forward to taking part in the 2017 World Judo Championships, which will
be held in Budapest, Hungary, between August 28 and September 3, 2017.
The event in Cancun was the 2017 Cancun Grand Prix, Mexico, which is on the International Judo Federation World Judo Tour.