Lele Nairne demonstrated remarkable resilience as she recovered from a semi-final defeat to Acelya Toprak, going on to defeat Ghana’s Fremi Agyei in the bronze medal match. This victory earned the 28-year-old judoka from Weston-super-Mare her first Commonwealth Games medal, after narrowly missing out at the same stage in Birmingham.
After representing Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympics and taking some time away from the sport, Nairne spoke about the mental challenge she faced. “I feel great. I worked really hard for it. For me, it was a mental game; I didn’t want to miss out on a medal again.”
She added, “I had to keep my head level today. I lost in the semi-finals and I needed to reset and go again. I’m so happy – this is only my third competition back.”
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Acelya Toprak, 29, made her goals clear ahead of the competition, aiming to upgrade her Birmingham silver to Glasgow gold. She succeeded in the women’s -57kg category, overcoming India’s Yamini Mourya in a closely fought final decided by golden score.
Toprak maintained her composure throughout to secure victory after Mourya was disqualified following a third shido penalty. This winning result contributed to an outstanding day for England’s judokas, who amassed a total of five medals.
Reflecting on her performance, Toprak said, “I said I wasn’t leaving with a silver again this year. I wanted the gold.”
“It was a tough fight and I gave it everything I had. It didn’t finish the way I wanted – I hoped for an ippon – but a win is a win, and I’m happy to have taken the gold.”
She continued, “I’m over the moon. Any medal at the Commonwealth Games is amazing, but I wanted the gold so badly. I’m relieved and happy that it’s done. It’s been a long time coming.”
Toprak also noted the challenge posed by her opponent: “I’m happy to have finished on a high and finally got the gold. I had to dig in a bit there. She was really physical. We’ve never fought before or even trained together, so I didn’t expect the intensity.”