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Commonwealth Games 2022: Kent's Jemima Yeats-Brown wins second bronze in judo in Birmingham as she beats Rachael Hawkes

Tonbridge’s Jemima Yeats-Brown won her second Commonwealth Games bronze on Tuesday.

Yeats-Brown, 27, defeated Shanice Takayawa in the quarter-final and progressed to face Australian Aoife Coughlan in the -70kg semi-final.

Jemima Yeats-Brown won a second Commonwealth Games bronze medal in Birmingham. Picture: Team England
Jemima Yeats-Brown won a second Commonwealth Games bronze medal in Birmingham. Picture: Team England

It was a close contest but three shidos for Yeats-Brown ended her gold-medal hopes - but a bronze medal was still in sight.

Yeats-Brown was up against Northern Ireland’s Rachael Hawkes for bronze.

Pembury-born Yeats-Brown controlled the fight and finished it with sangaku for ippon and medal success.

Speaking before the Games, Yeats-Brown said her sister’s battle with cancer was the fight fuelling her quest for a second Commonwealth Games medal.

Yeats-Brown and her family got the devastating news in October elder sister Jenny had been diagnosed with a brain tumour for which she started chemotherapy and radiotherapy that month.

Having stormed to a shock bronze as a last-minute call-up in Glasgow in 2014, she has now added another bronze in Birmingham.

Speaking about her sister's cancer battle, Yeats-Brown said: “It was tough because we are a really close family and when I’m away competing it’s hard to manage home life and judo life.

“She's in hospital and it’s her goal to be well enough to come and watch me. She doesn’t usually get to watch anywhere in the world, so to be watching me in Birmingham would be really special.

“Whenever I’m having a hard day or a hard session, it’s nothing compared to what she’s going through, so it definitely picks me up and I just think of her.

“To come away with a medal or even a gold medal would definitely put a smile on her face.”

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