Dalgety Bay judo star Lewis Yates wins Commonwealth title

Lewis Yates, 13, who trains with the Destination Judo Club, has been part of the Scotland team for the last two years and was selected to compete for his country again in Malta.  

The Commonwealth Judo Championships were held over four days last month and he was one of 16 judoka representing Scotland at the event, which saw more than 150 from countries such as the hosts, each of the home nations, India, South Africa, Canada, Australia and Jamaica show their skills on the mat.

READ MORE: Carnegie Judo duo win Commonwealth medals

Lewis, who is an S2 pupil at Inverkeithing High School, was crowned Commonwealth champion in the under-15 male, -46kg category by defeating opponents from England, South Africa and Malta.

After defeating South Africa's Daniel Hanneman in his first round match, he then got the better of England's Michael Puskas and Malta's Kyle Camilleri before defeating another Maltese player, Miguel Mintoff, to win the title.

Lewis (second from left) with fellow medal winners. (Image: Gavin Yates.)

The success for Lewis, who won all of his fights with ippon, topped a positive season for the rising judoka star, having previously enjoyed gold medal winning performances at both the Scottish Championships in Largs, and the English Open Championships, which were held in London in February.

READ MORE: Judo twins make it a national title double!

He told Press Sport that he is looking forward to another possible tilt at the British Teams Championship this summer, commenting: "Winning in Malta was really good.

"Like the English champs it was a hard competition with some tough opponents. I’m now hoping to represent Scotland again in July at the British Teams. We won a bronze medal last year and it would be great to upgrade that.

“I’m very grateful to my coaches Callum Woods and Davie Reilly who spend hours supporting and encouraging me.”