South Lopham judo ace Colin Oates finished in fifth place at the Madrid World Cup at the weekend, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.Oates competed as part of a seven-strong men's team in Spain and was the only the Brit to gain a place in the event, adding to his three bronze medals from the Belgium Open, Czech World Cup and British Open this year.

South Lopham judo ace Colin Oates finished in fifth place at the Madrid World Cup at the weekend, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.

Oates competed as part of a seven-strong men's team in Spain and was the only the Brit to gain a place in the event, adding to his three bronze medals from the Belgium Open, Czech World Cup and British Open this year.

He had a clean run in the preliminary rounds of the busy -66kg weight category. Dominating his first two fights against the host nation's Ares O Sorno Herrero and Ogor Buryi of Ukraine, Oates won both by ippon.

Progressing to the third round against Tiago Lopes of Portugal, both players picked up yuko points early on in the fight. With less than a minute left on the clock, Oates scored a waza-ari and managed to keep his opponent off for the clock to run out.

Oates then had a satisfying defeat over Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia in the fourth round with a waza-ari and a yuko after the fight went to the full five minutes, earning a place in the semi final. 'It was a tough fight against Pulyaev,' said Oates. 'I have fought him before and lost, so I was really pleased to beat him this time for a place in the semi final.'

The Brit fought Hyon Kuk Hong (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) in the semi final, but didn't manage to pick up a point and lost by ippon. Now fighting for third place, Oates faced Jun Hyun Cho of South Korea. Both players picked up penalty points and Oates went a yuko up after the South Korean was penalised a second time. But the fight ended with Cho scoring ippon.

Oates said: 'I feel I performed well and had benefitted from a short rest period before this event.

'After winning a bronze medal at the British Open last month, I wanted to re-inforce the work I had put in and continue improving in the areas I had been working. I am starting to prove myself at a higher level and perform well on the World Circuit. In previous years I have produced some good results at 'B' Tournaments and I am now stepping up to the next level.'

Oates will join the rest of the British squad on a Russia Tour with various training camps and events later this month for three weeks.