Judo: Howey claims gold but is denied revenge

Kate Howey said she had proved a point after claiming a gold medal at the British Judo Championships in Wigan yesterday.

The Olympic silver medallist has suffered a frustrating year with injuries and was controversially overlooked for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in favour of 20-year-old Samantha Lowe.

Although Lowe won the gold medal there, Howey maintained that she should have been selected. She was hoping to set the record straight in Wigan but Lowe withdrew injured. After beating Scotland's Amanda Costello convincingly in the final, Howey said: "It feels good to be back,'' but she was bitterly disappointed that Lowe did not compete.

"I turned down a prize fight for this,'' said Howey. She had been invited to compete in a prize money tournament in Romania this weekend with £10,000 at stake, but had turned it down in order to fight Lowe.

In the end she had to settle for a final contest against the woman Lowe edged out in the Manchester semi-finals, Costello. Howey won with a low shoulder throw to make it seven wins out of seven throughout the day. "It has been a long day but that meant a lot to me,'' the 29-year-old from Andover said.

Karina Bryant had the chance to set the record straight where Howey couldn't. The World Championship silver medallist was also overlooked for the Commonwealth Games in favour of Simone Callender, but she took the gold against her rival with a small score from a leg-grab technique.

Scotland's David Somerville avenged his Commonwealth final defeat against James Warren of London by edging him out for gold in the men's under-66 kilogramme division.