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ST HELENS judoka Amy Livesey was delighted to come away from her last tournament before the World Championships with a medal.

She collected silver at the 2017 Cancun Grand Prix on Saturday, following up her Yekaterinburg Grand Slam bronze last month with her second Grand Prix medal in the -63kg.

Livesey went in as second seed and she backed up her ranking.

Home judoka Elizabeth Garcia was first up and Livesey controlled large parts of their contest but it took a late waza-ari score, using her ura-nage, to secure the win.

Anriquelis Barrios (IJF) was next up and it was a tough, physical encounter with neither judoka able to take complete control. With little over a minute to go however Livesey transition well to apply shime-waza (strangle) and forced Barrios to tap.

Livesey’s improving newaza skills were once again called to action in her semi-final with Vivian Herrmann (GER).

She was once again able to apply shime-waza, this time inside the opening minute with Herrmann tapping out after some resistance.

Brazil’s Ketleyn Quadros was next up in the gold medal contest. The Brazilian had won their one previous encounter in Dusseldorf and once against Quadros came out on top throwing Livesey for ippon with just under two minutes left.

Speaking afterwards Livesey said: “I had a slow start today and got better as the day went on. I’m pleased to get a medal in my last competition before the Worlds.”

There was a seventh place finish for Owen Livesey (-81kg) who lost in the repechage finals against Jack Hatton (USA). It was a close fight with decisions that could have gone either way. But Livesey lost on shidos in golden score.