JUDO star Stephanie Inglis says she hopes to defy a surgeon’s advice and make a competitive return to the sport.

The 28-year-old, who has been living in Duloch, wants to return to the arena that saw her win a Commonwealth Games silver medal despite suffering a horror road accident that almost claimed her life 12 months ago.

Stephanie was given just a one per cent chance of survival after receiving critical brain injuries when she was thrown off a motorcycle in Vietnam, where she was voluntarily teaching English to schoolchildren.

Brave Stephanie, who is a finalist in the Sporting Champion of the Year category for this year’s Press Community Champions Awards on June 2, was in a coma for two weeks before an online fundraising campaign by childhood friend Khalid Gehlan allowed her to be moved to Bangkok for specialist care, and then back to Scotland on June 13.

She astounded doctors with her progress and, in January, underwent a final operation to have a titanium plate inserted into her skull to protect her from further damage.

Stephanie, who won silver at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, has been helping dad Robert with some judo coaching but has her eyes on returning to competitive action at the 2022 Games – despite her surgeon advising against it.

She said: “I have had talks with my surgeon and he is really not keen for me to return to the sport. Just because it is a full contact sport, (there’s) a risk of another head injury and I wouldn’t come through that.

“However, I spoke to another surgeon and he said your brain is like any other muscle, if you break your leg, for example, when it’s fixed it’s fixed ... when you’re brain’s healed it’s healed.

“I think I am going to give myself a couple of years to fully recover and let everything settle down and then go back and maybe get more tests done and scans and weigh up the risks and the possibilities of returning then.”

But she has said the “long-term goal” is the Commonwealth Games in five years time, when she will be 33.

Her father, a judo coach, said the issue is with the titanium cap in her head, which is bolted on, adding that if it were to move “that could be a problem”.

He said: “She’s keen, it (the prospect of a return) is keeping her motivated. Just now everything has gone well.”

She has paid tribute to Khalid, who set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay for her medical costs, which raised around £350,000. It was set up after it emerged her travel insurance was not valid because she had been in the country more than 31 days.

A year after the accident, Stephanie also took to social media to thank those who set up the ‘Save Steph’ campaign.

She said she had a day of “mixed emotions and reflection” and added: “I’m very happy with the progress and recovery I have made.

“A year ago, I was given a one per cent chance of survival and the doctors wanting to turn off the life support machines to now well on my way to making a 100 per cent recovery!

“It feels strange to think all that’s happened in a year and how my life has so drastically changed but one thing has not changed since I arrived back in the UK in August and that’s how thankful and lucky I feel to have come this far.

“I cannot thank everyone enough who helped support me by fundraising, spreading awareness or sending me encouraging messages – thank you all!

“And I would never have made the recovery I have done without so many wonderful and very special people around me helping me. So to my closest friends and family, thank you for being there for me, it means everything to me. Nothing is impossible!”