"It's been productive for me, this is what I came here for," said Cox, who defeated her British colleague Stephanie Inglis by ippon in a nervy bronze medal match in the -57kg category.

"I like the venue, I was getting a nice vibe with the crowd right behind us."

The first day of competition saw the -57kg and -73kg categories in action as London 2012 replicated day three of the 2012 London Olympic Games programme.

After a bye in the first round, Cox – who recently won bronze at the Amsterdam grand prix after missing several weeks with injury, beat Italy's Monica Iacorossi by ippon to earn a quarter-final which she narrowly lost to Brazil's Ketleyn Quadros.

But a win in the repêchage over Ghana's Szandra Szogedi by ippon earned her a bronze medal contest against her team mate, who impressed before losing to Japan's eventual silver medallist Nozomi Hirai, in turn defeated in the final by France's Shirley Elliot.

In the -73kg category Britain's Jan Gosiewski lost in the repêchage against David Dubsky of the Czech Republic after having two claims for an ippon victory turned down.

Meanwhile at the Korea World Cup in Jeju, Gemma Gibbons took bronze in the -70kg category, winning three of her four fights by ippon.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]