Wrestling: Cantabrian finds her niche with eye on Glasgow and Rio

Tayla Ford.

Tayla Ford used to hate wrestling.

The 20-year-old Cantabrian had to grapple with her father Pattrick and her older brothers when she was younger, but it wasn't just at home where she had to take on the boys.

"The competitions I went to I always lost because I had to wrestle boys. They always cheated so I hated it," Ford said.

That all changed five years ago.

"Since I started winning in about 2008/2009 I actually started to like it and take a bit more interest in it and I realised what I'm actually doing."

Her increased understanding has certainly worked in her favour and after claiming a bronze medal at this month's Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in South Africa, the 59kg competitor shapes as a podium prospect for next year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

"That's my short-term goal," Ford said. "[Eventually], I want to go to the Olympics. I did want to go to last year's Olympics but that fell through when I did my knee the year before."

In 2011, Ford's left knee was pretty much destroyed when she ruptured her anterior cruciate, medial and lateral cruciate ligaments and the meniscus playing rugby.

After recovering in time to claim a national title at 63kg last year, she had the joint drained at the start of this year but bounced back to win another national title in September.

Ford dropped to 59kg for the Commonwealth championships and her weight cut has seen her pick up some interesting guesses around what she does in the sporting arena.

The former Avonside Girls' High School student, who still trains alongside her father and brother Alex Rangi, used to be mistaken for a rower.

"Now they think that I do bodybuilding," she said with a laugh.

It's that powerful physique and a dominant approach that has national coach Mark Grayling excited about Ford's potential as they eye Glasgow and the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

At the Commonwealth championships, Ford beat eventual gold-medallist Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria, although a loss to India's Geeta Phogat, who claimed silver, bumped Ford down the rankings. "That's the best result for quite a while," Grayling said of Ford's performance.

"Not so much the placing but just who she beat and the way she beat them. She beat the gold medallist, the Nigerian Adeniyi, the South African, Norma Gordon, and the No2 Indian."

Ford was part of a nine-strong New Zealand team in South Africa. Other notable Kiwi results in the men's freestyle section included Marcus Carney, fourth in the 120kg division, a fifth to 96kg contender Samuel Belkin and Craig Miller's sixth in the 66kg class.

New Zealand's next major tournament will be the Oceania Championships in American Samoa in March where a top-two finish should help competitors secure a berth at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.