Bronze medal for Sydnee Andrews

SHOWING THEIR MEDALS: A proud moment for Gisborne judoka Sydnee Andrews . . . the Prague European Open medallists pose with their medals at the University of New York in Prague Arena Sparta. They are (from left): Ivana Maranic, of Croatia, silver; Renee Lucht, of Germany, gold; and Sophio Somkhishvili, of Georgia, and Sydnee Andrews, of New Zealand, bronze.Picture supplied

It's been a crazy two weeks for Sydnee Andrews.

The Gisborne judoka won a bronze medal at the recent Prague European Open in the Czech Republic and has taken another step towards qualifying for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, which run from July 28 to August 8.

Andrews, 19, is the daughter of Michelle Lexmond and Darren Andrews and younger sister to Alex.

She began her sporting journey at the age of five in the Gisborne Judo Club's 2007 Peewee class.

A member of the New Zealand team competing in the senior division at a junior age since 2019, she competes in the over-78-kilogram division.

Her top-16 finish from a field of 22 competitors at the Central Sports Centre Torwar, Poland, in her first European tournament was an excellent performance, but her medal-winning exploits in the second tourney at the University of New York in Prague Arena Sparta left Gisborne Judo Club head coach Jason King stunned.

“After Sydnee's placing in Poland, we hoped that she'd win a couple more fights in Prague, but a bronze — it blew us away, because there were 44 countries in the competition. I believe this is one of New Zealand's best results at this level.

“If she qualifies for the Games, she will be Gisborne's fourth female athlete to do so.”

King was impressed by the fact that at Prague, Andrews threw her opponents with maximum-point wins and, as her coach, he regarded her first win in a senior European Cup, in Poland, as special.

“This has been a great experience for her,” King said.

“Now I'm looking forward to seeing what else she can achieve.”

At the Sports Centre, Andrews beat Wiktoria Lis (Poland) but then lost to Justina Kmielauskaite (Lithuania) in Pool C of the women's over-78kg class.

At the UNYP Arena Sparta, Andrews beat a Junior World Championship bronze medallist in Tahina Durand (France) first up and then beat Fotima Kuramboeva (Uzbekistan) before losing to Renee Lucht (Germany), the eventual winner, in the quarterfinal.

Sarah Adlington (Great Britain) couldn't compete in the repechage due to injury, so Andrews then advanced to face Maria Paulusova (Czech Republic). She beat Paulusova to claim bronze in 01:10.

At the Tunis African Open held at the El Menzah Sports Palace three days ago, Andrews (Pool D) lost in the quarterfinals to Sarra Mzougui (Tunisia) in 03:11 and lost to Zeineb Troudi (Tunisia) in the bronze-medal match in 02:33. Having placed fifth in Tunis, she has since returned to her London base to prepare for the Pan-American Judo Championships, scheduled for April 15 to 17 in Peru, with a world ranking of 85.

The over-78kg women's world No.1 is Romane Dicko (France).