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ST HELENS judoka Amy Livesey won her third career Grand Prix medal at the expense of fellow Brit Lubjana Piovesana at the Cancun Grand Prix in Mexico.

It was a battle of the Brits in the -63kg Bronze medal contest as Piovesana and Livesey’s paths met once again in the hunt for Grand Prix medals. In their previous outing back at the Analya Grand Prix last year, Piovesana got the better of Livesey who was keen to avenge the defeat and earn her place on the podium.

The pair enjoy competing in Cancun with Livesey claiming Silver last year at the same venue and Piovesana winning Bronze.

It was a tense Bronze medal contest with both fighters training together on a regular basis. This led to a contest that saw very little successful attacking from the pair, as each athlete would read what the other was preparing.

It was Livesey that would secure the vital waza-ari to win the contest. She did an excellent job of nullifying Piovesana’s attacks and keeping her at arm’s length whilst avoiding being dragged to the mat, which had seen the demise of so many opponents of Piovesana’s in the past.

Livesey started the day with a hard fought victory over Spain’s Estefania Garcia courtesy of two waza-aris.

Poland’s Agata Ozdoba-Blach awaited Livesey in the Second Round and it was a quiet and cautious start from both judoka. It was a dramatic contest that looked like it was heading to Golden Score until Livesey spotted an opportunity on Ozdoba-Blach and drove with her legs to register an unanswered waza-ari with just 12 seconds remaining on the clock.

A Quarter Final match up against Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard lay in wait for Livesey.

The World No.18 is an experienced athlete with a multitude of Grand Prix medals to her name. She could not find a way past the Canadian though as Beauchemin-Pinard secured the take down on Livesey to register waza-ari before holding her down on the mat to drop the Brit into the Repechage.

Former British athlete Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, now competing for Mexico, was no match for Livesey in the repechage as two waza-ari accounted for Awiti-Alcaraz to set up the mouth-watering all-Brit contest.