New Zealand had one of his best days in Commonwealth Games judo with three judokas winning medals in the evening session. In the final bout of the evening, Kody Andrews went for gold in the men’s glamour event, +100kg.
In the end New Zealand came away with a silver and two bronzes, which made for a pretty satisfactory day’s work.
Kody Andrews never hit his straps in the final against Canadian Marc Deschenes and was beaten by an ippon after just 58 seconds.
“I’m a bit annoyed about that final,” he said later, “but that’s competition. You have to take it.”
The New Zealander said it still felt absolutely amazing to win a silver medal.
Moira de Villiers, competing in the women’s -78kg division, had to work hard but finally beat Ayuk Arrey Sophina of Cameroon with an ippon after 3min 32s to seal the bronze medal. It is a second Commonwealth medal for the 32-year-old de Villiers, following the silver medal she won in Glasgow in 2014.
“I needed that one to be a dogfight,” de Villiers said. “She’s quite aggressive at the start but she didn’t have the gas tank. I just needed to keep working, keep pushing, and in the end I got it.”
Sydnee Andrews took the mat for a bronze medal fight against Sarah Hawkes of Northern Ireland in the +78kg division.
The 19-year-old New Zealander had a 34kg weigh advantage and still retained good mobility. She always looked a likely winner and after 2min 39s used some deft skills to unbalance Hawkes and throw her on to her back, then held her for 10 seconds for the ippon.
It was a long day for New Zealand.
Kody Andrews, 22, started his run by beating Seychelles’ Dominic Dugasse with an ippon after 3min 55s. This was a torrid encounter, during which Dugasse was assessed three shidos (penalties) – one more and he’d have been disqualified.
Into the semi-final Andrews, who started his judo career in Christchurch, took on the huge Mauritian Sebastian Perrinne. They jostled for supremacy for 2min 31s before Andrews threw Perrinne on his back to score an ippon and earn himself a shot at the gold medal.
De Villiers, rather unusually, opened with a bout against her countrywoman, Hayley Mackey. The vastly experienced De Villiers - she competed as far back as the 2012 Olympics - won by an ippon after 1min 19s.
De Villiers then lost a close bout with Englishwoman Emma Reid in the semi-finals. They battled mightily for the full four minutes and Reid won by virtue of an early wazi-ari, leaving South-African-born de Villiers to fight for the bronze.
British-based Sydnee Andrews opened with a decisive win over Trinidad and Tobago’s Gabriella Wood with an ippon after 1min 11s.
She then lost her semi-final to Tulika Maan of India, conceding an ippon at the 1min 53s mark and consigned herself to a battle for the bronze.
Andrews looked to be going well, and scored an early wazi-ari. She was attempting an ippon manoeuvre when Maan countered effectively and decisively.
Besides those who went on to fight for medals two other New Zealand judokas were involved.
Jason Koster, 39, was a bronze medallist at Glasgow in 2014. Fighting in the men’s 100kg in Birmingham, he began well with a win by ippon over Pakistani Qaisar Khan after 3min 31s. By then Khan had three shidos against his name – one more would have signalled the end of the bout.
Koster’s next match was a quarter-final against Kyle Reyes of Canada. This one was over in 42 seconds, with the Canadian winning by ippon.
Shortly after, Koster returned to the action in a repechage round, against Australian Kayhan Ozcicek-Takagi, but it was over virtually before it began, with Koster conceding an ippon after 15 seconds, rather like being bowled first ball in cricket or being knocked out by the first blow of a boxing contest.
After Mackey, 21, had lost to de Villiers, she fought Rachel Tytler of Scotland in the repechage round. The Scott was too good and won 11-0 after 1min 28s, by virtual of a wazi-ari and an ippon.