Natalie Powell Pipped For Bronze In Dusseldorf

Natalie Powell was pipped to a bronze medal at the Dusseldorf Grand Slam as she fell once again to the giant Slovenian Klara Apotekar.

The Welsh judoka was beaten in the third round of last year’s World Championships in Baku by Apotekar and she once again missed out on a medal as the world ranked No 11 Solvenian upset the odds to win with a Wasari.

Powell opened her account in the -78kg category with wins over the Brazilian Samanta Soares and South African Unelle Snyman. It was sweet revenge over Soares, who had beaten her in the quarter-finals of the Cancun Grand Prix last year.

Those two victories put the World No 5 into the quarter-finals, where she had to face Germany’s Anna Marie Wagner. The last time the two met it had been the Welsh star who came out on top in the European Championships quarter-finals.

But this time the German, ranked 15^th in the world, turned the tables. She went all the way to the final, where she lost to Brazilian Mayra Aguiar.

After her defeat, Powell went into the Repechage, where she beat Antonia Shmeleva with a performance that allowed her to avenge her quarter-final defeat to the Russian at The Hague Grand Prix last year.

Her third victory of the tournament gave her a shot at a bronze medal against the 6ft 1in tall Apotekar, who was the European Junior Champion in 2017. A tight contest ended in favour of Apotekar with a Wasari.

Powell, who was third in Dusseldorf last year, will next be in action in Ekaterinburg Grand Slam on 15 March.