JUDO ace Natalie Powell has promised to learn and improve from her disappointment at the world championships.
The judoka from Beulah, near Builth Wells, suffered a shock defeat at the championships in Baku, Azerbaijan at the hands of Slovenian Klara Apoteker.
Powell, who is ranked second in the world in the women’s -78kg class, had a bye in the first round and comfortably saw off Sarah Myriam Mazouz of Gabon.
But Powell, who had hoped to be Wales’ first world champion, saw those dreams ended in a third round upset when world number 14 Apoteker got the better of her.
Despite the disappointment of failing to make the medal bouts Powell today took to her @Nataliep_90 Twitter account to thank supports.
She wrote: "I didn’t get the the result I’d worked for, but this is sport and I will learn from it and come back better. This year has been full of progress and positivity, I feel like my judo (has) really improved and I’m looking forward to more opportunities to show this. I would like to thank everyone for their support and kind message, I feel really lucky to have such great people around me!!"
She added the hash tags Onwards and Upwards and Success Is A Journey Not a Destination to the tweet.
The 27-year-old won a European bronze medal earlier this year and last year became the first British woman to be ranked world number one and also took a bronze at the world championships for Great Britain.