Scottish victory boost to Andrews’ Olympic campaign

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne judoka Sydnee Andrews' Paris Olympics campaign got another boost with victory in the Scottish Open over the weekend.

Andrews won the senior women's 78-plus kilograms title at the Sport Scotland National Centre near Glagow.

Based at Camberley Judo Club in England, Andrews was using the Scottish Open as a warm-up for the Grand Prix Portugal tournament this weekend.

Her toughest bout en route to the Scottish Open title as the first against Briton Chloe Baker.

Andrew won in just under 2 minutes but from there it was one-way traffic.

She defeated another English judoka, Meghan Roeves, in just 49 seconds and followed that up with an 11-second defeat of Scotland's Kate Saunders.

Andrews faced Camberley clubmate Laura Tapping in the final and it was all over in 24 seconds.

Gisborne Judo Club head coach Jason King said the tournament was valuable build-up for competitions such as Portugal which carried with it vital world rankings points.

Andrews won bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year and is on a mission to make the New Zealand team for the Paris Olympics next year.