The 24-year-old former Pinewood Judo Club fighter took to the mat knowing only her best would suffice if she was to be crowned Commonwealth Games champion in the Under 70kg category.

Victory over Alix Renaud-Roy of Canada in the quarter-finals set up a mouth-watering home nation semi-final with Scotland’s Sally Conway – the British number one and world number five.

But Fletcher wasn’t fazed by the home support at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and pinned her opponent down to propel her into the gold medal bout.

There she met Moira de Villiers of New Zealand and sealed victory by ippon to leave her lost for words after an enthralling day of action.

“That was absolutely amazing – I beat the British number one in the semi-final and that was an amazing performance and I was so emotional after that,” she said.

“But to win gold as well, I don’t think I’ve had a better day ever. I couldn’t think of anywhere better to beat Sally [Conway]. In the final minutes I was just thinking about keeping my concentration and keep the pressure on her.

“It’s not really sunk in and the day was a bit of a blur and I just feel so happy to have a gold medal in my hands.

“My preparations have been fantastic and it’s really paid off. Gold was my target, I knew I had a tough draw but I always had confidence.” Fletcher, coached by the late Pinewood Senei, Don Werner, suffered a nasty-looking injury to her nose during her bout with Conway but she didn’t let that put her off, donning a makeshift bandage across her face to fight on and win.

And she admitted there was no way she was going to have her dream of Commonwealth gold taken away from her by what she described as ‘a stupid little scratch’.

“My injury didn’t unsettle me but it’s really annoying having something around your nose,” she added.

“I had to have it on though because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to fight and they would’ve taken me off the mat. It was just a stupid little scratch as well.” Commonwealth Games England (CGE) leads and manages the participation of the Team England at the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games. They work with sports, Sponsors and Sport England to support the development of athletes and their sports, and to achieve success at Games-time.