Judo: Randall inspires Scotland's fightback

Graeme Randall, Scotland's former world champion, lit the blue touch paper on the second day here at the GMEX Arena yesterday. Randall roared with delight after a delectable foot sweep completely levelled his young English opponent, Thomas Cousins, in the men's Under 81kg final.

"I cannot describe that feeling. You could see how emotional I was representing Scotland," Randall said.

The atmosphere was electric for the most eagerly anticipated contest of the tournament. Randall, the 1999 world champion, was the favourite, but many people fancied the twice junior European champion to upset the haggis cart. Indeed, Thomas was equal to his opponent until, with just under a minute and a half to go, Randall executed a perfect ko soto gari foot sweep to land a golden ippon.

Randall's gold went some way to make up for the Scottish disappointment after England dominated Tuesday's category, particularly as he beat an Englishman in the final. "Needless to say, that tasted sweet,'' he said.

Earlier this year, the 27-year-old thought his participation would be in doubt as he struggled with a bad neck injury. "To come back from the injuries I have had and put on a performance like that speaks for itself,'' he said.

In a British dominated category, Luke Preston of Wales also won a bronze medal. It was just reward for Preston, who earlier lost to Cousins in the semi-finals. The London-based Kiwi Olympian Tim Slyfield scored a popular win over Morgan Endicott Davies, of Australia, to claim the other bronze.

On a great day for Scottish judo, Jenny Brien and Sarah Clark won silver medals and Lee McGrorty won a bronze in the men's Under-73kg section. O'Brien, the 25-year-old Camberley club fighter, was never overawed by her Hungarian-born Australian opponent Maria Pekli, who had won bronze in the Sydney Olympics two years ago. And after neither player could find a decisive score in the five-minute time limit, the bout was decided on "golden score" with Pekli landing the all-important koka score following an inside leg sweep half-way through the extra period.

Later, England's European silver medallist Karen Roberts affirmed her position as the British No 1 by armlocking Scotland's Clark in the Under-63kg final to win gold. That victory made up for defeats in both the British Open and the British Championships over the last year.