Sydnee Andrews has made history by becoming the first New Zealand woman to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in judo.
By Barry Guy of RNZ
Andrews won the title in the +78kg class with an Ippon victory over Richella Soppi Mbella of Cameroon in the final.
The last New Zealander judo athlete to win a title at the Commonwealth Games was Brent Cooper in Auckland in 1990.
The 23-year-old from Gisborne, who is based in England, was a late inclusion in the New Zealand team for Glasgow after she was forced to prove her fitness following an injury.
However the injury didn't affect her games, winning all three of her bouts by Ippon, which is a single throw that scores an instant win.
But 2 minutes and 33 seconds into the final against Mbella, Andrews was unsure is she'd actually won.
"I thought I threw her for the full score so that's why I got up but then I don't know if I heard anyone say anything and so I just had an instinct to get back on top of her because I felt something was wrong and nothing was actually scored," Andrews said afterwards.
"Just the emotions and I was really holding her down because I wasn't going to risk her getting out of it... it was unreal."
The score was confirmed and Andrews became New Zealand's 10th gold medallist of the Games.
Earlier, Andrews overcame Marie Durhone of Mauritius in the quarter-finals and then battled past Marthe Gnacadja Avaro of Gabon in a semi-final which the Kiwi said was brutal.
"She kicked the s**t out of my shin, but "pain is a just a four letter word and I pushed through it".
Andrews, who claimed bronze in Birmingham four years ago, thanked her support team for helping her win gold.
"Honestly we did so much work behind the scenes to get to where we are now."
Team-mate Kody Andrews (no relation) took a bronze medal in the men's +100kg class.
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