By Sarah Dyce

Joshua Katz stepped onto the mat at SEC Hall 4 with his coach in his corner. That coach happened to be his brother.

Katz, who claimed bronze for Australia at Birmingham 2022, returned to the Commonwealth Games in the men’s -60kg category, this time with brother Nathan guiding him from the sidelines. He came away with silver, beaten only by India’s Harsh Singh, who took gold after landing a waza-ari throw in the final minute of their bout. England’s Charlie Ayre and Australia’s Pedro Carlos Antun Neto shared bronze.

Nathan Katz, who won bronze alongside Josh at Birmingham 2022, worked the campaign from the designated coach’s box. When the final ended in defeat, the 28-year-old Josh walked straight over to him.

“It makes me a little bit emotional,” Katz said. 

“We really wanted to try make some more memories today, and we did.

“There were a few times today we looked at each other and just laughed and smiled. This is a pretty cool place to be.”

Katz knows moments like this don’t come around often.

“You don’t know how many more opportunities like this you’re ever going to have, especially together,” he said.

“These are memories we’ll look back on for a really long time.”

Moments earlier, Antun Neto secured Australia’s first medal of the day, trapping Botswana’s Tumiso Phuthego and scoring an ippon in just under two minutes of action to end their bronze medal contest early. The Wollongong-based judo teacher has built a career on both sides of the Pacific, from Brazil to Australia, defined by discipline, loyalty and high-level performance in both judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and he wasn’t shy about who got him through a tough draw.

“I’m so happy I made it to the podium, my matches were very hard,” Antun Neto said. 

“I have my little students in Wollongong and they keep supporting me and believing in me.”

Whenever the sensei considers stepping away from competition, his students and the community he’s built are what keep him going.

“I do that to show them that’s it’s possible, if you really want to be at this level and you believe in yourself and you work hard you can get there.”

Tinka Easton, the defending 2022 champion, suffered a heartbreaking loss in her women’s -52kg bronze-medal match to finish fifth. Vas Middleton also suffered a narrow defeat in the men’s -66kg bronze-medal match, finishing fifth as well.

Judo continues at SEC Hall 4 on Saturday 1 August, with the mat set to decide the next set of Glasgow 2026 medallists.