Judo pair aim for gold

New Zealand judokas Adrian Leat and Moira de Villiers have the chance to win Commonwealth Games gold medals after striking superb form in their opening bouts today.

Leat, 26, peeled four victories in the under-73kg division to qualify for the final.

The Aucklander, who was born in Subiaco, Australia, won all his preliminary bouts with ippons.

First up he beat strong Welshman Curtis Dodge after a tough 3min 34s bout. Next up he dealt summarily with Tanzanian Mbarouk Mbarouk in just over a minute, even though the Tanzanian had had a first-round bye and went into the bout fresh.

With the stakes increasing, he faced experienced Ghanian Emmanuel Nartey in the quarter-finals and turned on a polished display.

Victory over the Ghanian earned him a semi-final bout against South African Jacques van Zyl, whom he dismissed in 3min 07s. Van Zyl was a mobile, fit fighter, but Leat controlled the pace well and defended superbly.

In the final, Leat meets accomplished Englishman Danny Williams, who represented Britain at the 2012 Olympics.

New Zealand team manager Robert Levy said Leat had struck the best form of his life.

Hes spent 18 months building towards the Commonwealth Games. Hes never been fitter and he fought really well all the way through, Levy said.

De Villiers, 24, reached the womens under-70kg final with two good victories.

First up she met Canadian Monika Burgess. She turned on an impressive performance, recording a yukon and an ippon.

In the semi-final she was pushed hard before overcoming Australian Catherine Arscott, a long-time rival. The two were evenly matched and the result went down to penalties.

De Villiers, born in South Africa and now based in Christchurch, now meets Englishwoman Megan Fletcher for the gold.

There were two other New Zealand judokas in action, both in the mens under-81kg division.

Mark Brewer won well over Leslie Philoe of the Seychelles. Then he ran into a dynamic young Canadian, Louis Krieber-Gagnon. The pair had a monumental battle that went down to penalties, with the New Zealander dipping out in the end.

In his repecharge bout, Brewer lost to Cypriot Robert Nicola after another torrid and close battle.

Surprisingly Ivica Pavlinic, the top seed in the under-81kg division, lost his first fight, to Canadian Jonah Burt. He got caught and thrown early in the bout and that was that. For a man who finished in the top 10 at the last world championships and was the Oceania champion, it was a hasty and unexpected effort, and Pavlinic was understandably disappointed afterwards.

Levy said that though the Pavlinic defeat was a blow, it had overall been a spectacular session for New Zealand.

To have two fighters in finals is a great result for us, he said.