Emma Reid overcame internal pressure and an early fall to successfully defend her Commonwealth title.

The Melbourn judoka, 30, grabbed gold in Birmingham four years ago and followed it up in Glasgow to retain her -78kg crown.

Reid beat Australian Maria Swan in the final after recovering from going down in the opening stages of the fight to eventually win by Ippon.

Olympian Reid admits she arrived in Scotland with lofty expectations and after delivering at Glasgow’s SEC, she said: “Going in, I knew I could do it.

“But there's a difference between being doable and going out and doing it. I’m really happy and relieved.

“I struggled a bit at the start - she obviously came out really fast. That got me in the fight - I just had to hold out and be patient.

“The first one was just about the experience and I was so happy to get gold. This one felt very different - there was a lot of pressure and I didn't want to disappoint myself.

“It's hard when all you want to do is get gold - silver isn't good enough in my head, so it was a lot of pressure throughout the day. It didn't get any easier!

Reid won two Grand Slam bronze medals in 2024 - the same year she made her Olympic debut, where she reached the round of 32 in Paris.

She bounced back with World Championship bronze later that year, before clinching Grand Slam gold in Dushanbe in 2025.

Shelley Ludford was competing in the same weight category but was unable to bow out with a medal as she lost out to Cypriot Zanet Michaelidou in the bronze medal match.

Ludford, from Basingstoke, said:  I didn't have the right preparation in camp I wanted due to niggles, but I got here and I qualified to fight so that's a major achievement for me.

“This is my last one (competition), that I why I wanted to medal, but I've put everything out there. That's the most I can do and I'm proud of myself.”

Elsewhere on the mat, Max Gregory claimed silver in the men’s -100kg category.

The Plymouth judoka, 25, lost out to Canadian Kyle Reyes in the final but reflected on his medal with pride after overcoming an uphill battle to make it to Glasgow.

“I’m so happy with what’s happened,” he said.

“Luckily with the team around me we managed to get back - training and competing has been fine, but I’ve still had a list full of injuries along the way.

“As long as I can keep competing, I’m happy. I don’t think there was ever any doubt - every time I’ve got injured, I’ve always returned better, and it’s given me real opportunities to renew myself as an athlete and bounce back stronger.

“I’m really looking forward to what’s coming – I’ll keep knuckling down and hopefully at LA 2028 I’ll be there.”

Gregory beat New Zealander Matthew Rowley and the top-seeded Welshman Oliver Barratt to navigate his way to the final but was unable to take the final step to gold against Reyes.

But with lots of friends and family in attendance, he relished his Commonwealth experience.

“I gave it my all throughout to the final,” he added.

“It was a good fight but he had some beautiful judo to finish it at the end. So many of family are here to see me, so doing that in front of them is great.”

In the men’s +100kg category, Wesley Greenidge was beaten by Scotland’s Gregor Miller in the round of 16.