Olympian Sally Conway took gold in the women’s -70kg category on the final day of the judo European Cup in Malaga, Spain.

Grand Prix gold medallist Conway, who is back in action following an injury she picked up just before the World Championships, fought her way to gold in this competition by beating three Spaniards.

First she defeated Maria Bernabeu Avomo with a yuko and then followed up with two ippon victories over Andrea Sebastian Tomas and Maria Del Mar Parades.

She said: “It felt great to be back fighting in competition today and to come away with the gold makes it even better. I am now looking forward to the up and coming tournaments in the next few weeks.”

There was also a surprise gold from Gary Hall, who achieved a career-best at his second Senior European Cup, as he paved his way to the top of the -90kg podium.

Hall’s journey involved an ippon over Antonio Luis Martinez Garcia of Spain, followed by a waza-ari over Russian Alexander Roslyakov. Then he took another ippon over Spaniard David Ruiz Zajac of Spain and a yuko over Hugo Silva of Portugal.

The 23-year-old judoka was fighting among the same pool as ParalympicGB silver Medallist Sam Ingram to the -90kg podium. Ingram, an -90kg visually impaired judoka, was also hoping for a mainstream medal or a placing to have a shot at the Commonwealth Games, but it was not to be.

Owen Livesey (-81kg) took silver after winning his first bout with two waza-ari’s for ippon, as well as three yukos over Mattia Ferro of Italy. He then went on to beat Alejandro Dominguez Lopez of Spain by three shidos and then Daniel Costa of Portugal by a waza-ari and a yuko.

He won the semi-final with a waza-ari over David Sanchez Sanchez of Spain, but was denied gold when a third Spaniard Adrian Nacimiento Lorenzo claimed an ippon victory, but the Brit settled for silver.

Euan Burton (-100kg), who won gold last month at home at the Glasgow European Open, was disappointed to lose the semi-final and the chance for gold or silver.

However, he bounced back to take bronze medal against Aaron Rodriguez Santisteban of Spain.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Telfer (+78kg) took the other bronze of the day, her second of this colour at European Cup level.

Chris Sherrington (+100kg) placed fifth after narrowly losing by a single shido against Diogo Silva of Portugal in the +100kg final.

It was also a fifth place finish for Neil Schofield (+100kg), Adam Hall (-100kg) and Carrie Thompson (-78kg).

Peter Charles Vincent (-100kg) and Frazer Chamberlain (-90kg) placed seventh.

Words by Donna Richardson. Photo by Mike Varey.