Meet The Team – Natalie Powell

Welsh star Natalie Powell has continued her good form from 2014 with six top eight finishes this year including an historic silver at the IJF Masters in Morocco in May. Powell, who defeated fellow British judoka Gemma Gibbons to win gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, is currently ranked in the top ten in both the World and Olympic qualifications rankings and will be looking for a strong set of results to put her in good stead for 2016.

Category: -78kg

Current WRL: 9^th (1601 points)

Current OGQP: 6^th (806 points)

Fighting on: Friday 28^th August

Career Highlights: Commonwealth Games Gold (2014), Astana Grand Prix Gold (2014), Morocco Masters Silver (2015)

2015 Highlights: Morocco Masters Silver, Samsun Grand Prix Silver

2014 World Judo Championship Medallists:

Gold: Mayra Aguiar (Brazil) Silver: Audrey Tcheuméo (France) Bronze: Kayla Harrison (USA) Anamari Velenšek (Slovenia)

“I’m really excited, it’s my third World Championships now and I’m yet to get a result but I feel my preparation and competitions this year have been going really well so I’m really optimistic I can get a strong result. Third time lucky! I’m a big believer in third time lucky!

“I think winning Commonwealth gold really started off my confidence and I knew I could do it then, I know I could beat the top girls in the world so that boosted my confidence no end.

“The Grand Prix just after that in Astana I won that and I think that did a massive amount for my confidence knowing that I’m actually at that level so I’ve just been gradually getting better each competition so I’m really hopeful now for the Worlds that I can pull out a result.”

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