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World Champion Ben Quilter
won gold at the 2011 IBSA World Games on Tuesday 5th April in
Antalya, Turkey.
The 29-year-old, who
won the -60kg VI world title in Antalya last year, had a bye in
the first round before throwing a French opponent for ippon within
a minute.
Next up was an absorbing
battle with an Iranian judoka who he overcame to book a semi-final
spot.
Ben fought his old rival,
Azerbaijan's Ramin Ibrahimov, in a tense contest as Ramin led
through a waza-ari as late as four minutes into the bout.
At the second attempt
Ben pinned his opponent to narrowly beat the clock and score an
ippon in an impressive come-from-behind victory.
Ben defeated Japan's
Takaaki Hirai in the final to seal his first World Games title.
"It feels really
good, I made hard work of it, but I'm still really pleased with
the result," he said.
"I went into the
competition expecting a medal so I did put that pressure on myself
but I knew I was capable.
"There was a really
good standard of competition, the same as the World Championships
last year and I fought hard to get the gold."
Paralympic Programme
Manager Dave Sanders said: "This is a fantastic achievement
to win a World Championships title and now a World Games title
too.
"Ben has continued to work really hard over the last year
and is always looking to push himself and improve. His continued
success is an absolute credit to himself and the Paralaympic Performance
Coach, Jean-Paul Bell and the support team at the British Judo
Performance Institute."
©
Mike Varey
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