Sally Conway expressed her happiness at returning to the mat after taking gold at the Samsun Grand Prix in Turkey on a successful weekend for British judokas across the continent.
The 26-year-old, making her first international appearance since the London 2012 Olympics, took the biggest win of her senior career with victory in the -70kg category in Turkey.
The last major tournament before the European Championships, Conway began with victory by ippon over Russia’s Margarita Gurtsieva and then defeating Iljana Marzok in just over a minute.
Conway saw off world junior champion Bernadette Graf in the semi-final before overcoming Moroccan Asma Niang in the final – and she admitted she enjoyed being back in Turkey.
She said: “I’m really pleased with my performance, as this is my first competition back since the Olympics. It feels good to be back.”
Chris Sherrington, who also represented Team GB at London 2012 Olympics last summer, and Natalie Powell followed Conway’s lead in claiming a medal in Turkey.
Sherrington and Powell both took bronze in the +100kg and -78kg categories respectively with a further ten British medals being won at the European Cup in Sarajevo.
Nekoda Davis beat Sophie Cox in an all-British -57kg final, Stephanie Inglis taking bronze in the same category, and Philip Awiti-Alcaraz won gold in the -100kg.
Ben Fletcher took bronze at that weight with Caroline Kinnane victorious in the -78kg and Nathon Burns and Hayley Willis winning silver in the men’s -66kg and women’s -48kg respectively.
Olympian Kelly Edwards took her first international medal at -52kg with bronze and Rebecca Telfer won the same colour in the women’s -78kg category.
© Sportsbeat 2013