Colin Oates took a bronze medal at the 2010 British Open Judo Championships at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley.The much-admired judoka, from South Lopham, finished third in the fiercely contested -66kg category.

Colin Oates took a bronze medal at the 2010 British Open Judo Championships at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley.

The much-admired judoka, from South Lopham, finished third in the fiercely contested -66kg category.

The one-time Kumo Judo Club standout, who now trains at the renowned British Judo Performance Institute at Dartford, emerged from a stacked weight class which featured 49 fighters from around the world.

The Brit lost out to Spain's Javier Delgado in the first round but his conqueror progressed to the semi-finals which meant Oates would return to the competition through the double repechage system.

Oates, 26, reeled off four eye-catching victories to set up a bronze medal meeting with France's Killian Leblouch. He sealed victory by registering a yuko and waza-ari.

'I'm pleased with bronze, there was a decent field of international fighters competing,' said Oates. 'The Frenchman was tough but I felt very good on the mat. I was targeting a medal coming in, gold is always the aim, but I put in some good performances so I can still be happy with bronze.'

Britain won nine medals over the course of the two-day event.

The impressive tally included five bronze, one silver and three gold medals.

The newly-recognised EJU Senior European Cup event, which featured 400 international competitors, saw Britain finish third overall in the medal table behind the Netherlands who pipped France to top spot.

Oates is part of an eight-strong GB men's team for the Spanish World Cup next weekend in Madrid. He was a bronze medal winner at the Prague World Cup earlier this year.

Following the World Cup events, the team will go on a training tour in Russia to start preparations for the World Championships.