Daniel Powell and Lachlan Moorhead both claimed gold medals for England on the second day of the Commonwealth Games judo competition at Coventry Arena.
Powell, from Walsall, took a golden score win over Gambia’s Faye Njie to claim the -73kg title while Moorhead beat Canada’s Gauthier Drapeau in the men’s -81kg division.
England won a total of five medals, with Gemma Howell taking silver in the -63kg category and bronze medals for Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown and Kelly Peterson-Pollard, while Jasmine Hacker-Jones of Wales also won bronze.
The 32-year-old Howell was denied a fairy-tale comeback after losing by golden score to Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard.
However Howell, who has endured 10 operations due to her sport and almost retired after missing out on a place at the Rio Olympics in 2016, said she was proud of her achievement in reaching the podium.
“We’ve fought already this year and it went to eight minutes, so I always knew it was going to be a close fight,” said Howell.
“It’s always been neck-and-neck – last time it was my turn, this time she got the win. I’d have preferred it at the Commonwealths but I tried my best.
“My career has been a roller coaster. I thought I’d quit in 2016, so I don’t know how I managed to keep going, but I did.”
