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Colin Oates pleased to justify 'favourites' tag

Colin Oates says that he is happy to win gold for England in the judo event but insists that his triumph was always the plan.

England's judo star Colin Oates has said that he is pleased to have lived up to his favourites tag and win gold at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

Oates, 31, became the second of three English champions in the judo event on day one of the Games by beating Andreas Krassas of Cyprus in the -66kg category.

Ashley McKenzie and female competitor Nekoda Davis also went all the way in their respective categories as England opened their campaign in Glasgow with six golds in total.

"When you come away with a gold medal you can't believe it but we came here with a job and were probably favourites, so we had to deliver," he told BBC Sport.

"One of the things about judo is that there are so many breaks and we have to keep focused [as] it requires a lot of mental skill.

"We had a wonderful reception from the crowd. We weren't sure what reaction we would get from the Scottish crowd but they have been supporting us as well, except when we were fighting the Scottish boys."

England lead the way in the medals table with a total of 17, ahead of Australia and Scotland respectively.

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Ashley McKenzie flashes his gold medal earned in the men's -60kg judo on July 24, 2014
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