Stevenson (right) has recovered from two operations on her right ankle

Olympic medallist Sarah Stevenson gave Great Britain a winning start with gold on the first day of the 2009 British Taekwondo Championships in Manchester.

The 26-year-old from Doncaster earned a 9-2 victory over Spain's Sandra Rodelas Lorenzo in the women's 73kg final under the new electronic scoring system.

"It is a bit harder to score and we all need to adjust our technique slightly," Stevenson said of the new rules.

Mansfield's Tyrone Robinson won bronze in the men's 58kg category.

The 22-year-old lost out to Germany's 2008 European champion Levent Tuncat in the semi-finals.

Aaron Cook, who missed out on a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, lost to Korea's Kim Jae Hak in the final second of their encounter.

The new scoring system, which uses electronic pads on the body, will be in place for the World Championships, which take place in October.

"The most important thing is to make the sport as fair as possible," added Olympic bronze medallist Stevenson, who has undergone two operations on her right ankle since returning from Beijing last year.

"My ankle feels fine now and I've been fit and training for a while," she added. "I'm really happy that my return to major competition has been successful and I feel really good after that final."

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