Medals on Aussie mats

Successful tour: Ella Kelso, 17, won medals at two judo tournaments in Australia last month and visited the Australian Institute of Sport. Picture by Liam Clayton

Gisborne judoka Ella Kelso won four medals at tournaments in Australia and got the chance to visit a top-class sports training facility.

The 17-year-old competed at international judo tournaments in Canberra and Sydney last month.

In Canberra, she won gold and bronze medals.

At Sydney, she won gold and silver medals.

In between, she trained at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

The institute covers 66 hectares and was created to promote high performance and to give Australia a competitive edge on the world sporting stage.

Kelso described it as “massive”.

The campus includes courts for netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis, facilities for track and field, an aquatic centre, synthetic and grass playing fields, and a combat centre.

Kelso said she received advice from Australian coaches.

“It was a high-intensity camp,” she said.

“We were doing two to three training sessions a day for about two hours each.”

Kelso won a gold medal as a cadet in the under-70-kilograms division at Canberra.

She stepped up to the junior-women (under-20) category and lost her first fight but won the others, claiming a bronze medal.

In Sydney, she again won gold as a cadet and picked up a silver medal in the junior women's class.

Kelso said getting to fight against opponents she was not familiar with was valuable.

She could try new techniques and throws.

She was pleased to fight in front of national and Gisborne club coach Kiki Velloza in Sydney.

Kelso received her brown belt in the sport at the end of last year.