Sydnee Andrews wins rare judo gold
Sydnee Andrews became the first New Zealander in 36 years to win a Commonwealth Games judo gold medal.
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By winning the gold medal in the women's 78+kg division, she followed Brent Cooper, who in 1990 won gold in the half-lightweight division in Auckland.
Andrews had three fights in Glasgow and won them all by Ippon.
Her opening bout was against Mauritian Marie Durhome, and that victory earned her a semi-final bout against Gabon's Marthe Gnacadja Avaro.
The New Zealander eventually won that one by an Ippon too, but it was a torrid 3min 50s encounter with Andrews issued with one warning and Avaro with three, which meant she lost the fight.
Andrews, who is from Gisborne but has lived the past four years in Camberley, Surrey, made it clear she wasn't happy just to get any medal. After her semi-final she was emphatic: 'I say it quite boldly and openly how badly I want to get that gold. I've got the hunger for it.'
She proved that in the final against Richella Soppi Mbella of Cameroon. The 23-year-old New Zealander clearly meant business and was extremely aggressive. After 2min 33s of pressure, she scored an Ippon and the gold medal was hers.
Kody Andrews (no, they aren't related, though they've been long-time team-mates) had an impressive start to his day, imposing an Ippon on Jamaican Steven Moore in their men's 100+kg match.
He looked equally good in dealing with Paula Monta of Tonga, scoring another victory by Ippon in their quarter-final.
Unfortunately Andrews didn't last long in his semi-final bout against Giannis Antoniou of Cyprus, losing by Ippon.
That left him to battle Gregor Miller of Scotland for the bronze medal. It was a tough bout in front of a big Scottish crowd, and went the full four minutes and at the end of it, the New Zealander had scored a Yuko and that was enough to earn him the bronze medal.
Matthew Rowley began well in his men's -100kg round of 16 match. The New Zealander beat Jaden Calder of Scotland 10-0.
Rowley was back on the mat soon after, but suffered an Ippon defeat by England's Max Gregory. Into the quarter-final repechage he lost to Cypriot Aristos Michael by Ippon.