Natalie Powell returned from injury with a fifth place finish at the Havana Grand Prix on Sunday 24 January.

Powell (-78kg) started her day with a win over Laia Talarn (ESP) as she secured a hold down to win by ippon. In her next contest she took on local favourite Yalennis Castillo (CUB) and it proved to be a short fight as Powell countered the Cuban superbly to score ippon.

Her semi-final saw her take on Luise Malzahn (GER) and it was the German who proved the stronger on the day as she held the British judoka down for ippon after going ahead on a shido.

The bronze medal match against Assunta Galeone (ITA) followed a similar pattern as Powell went behind before being held down by her opponent to finish in fifth.

Sarah Adlington (+78kg) got the better of Katarzyna Furmanek (POL) in her first contest she won by two shidos. However in the next round she took on Cuba’s Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz who threw her for ippon a minute into the contest.

Gemma Gibbons (-78kg), Frazer Chamberlain (-90kg) and Ben Fletcher (-100kg) all lost out in their opening contests to Castillo (CUB), Aleksandar Kukolj (SRB) and Kazbek Zankishiev (RUS) respectively.