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Beijing Paralympic bronze
medallist Sam Ingram captured Britain’s second IBSA VI European
Championship title on Saturday as he followed Ben Quilter’s opening
day success by taking gold in the -90kg category at K2 Arena in
Crawley.
The 26-year-old, who trains
at JudoScotland’s National Training Centre in Ratho, a recognised
British Judo Performance Centre, started his campaign with a stirring
victory over Rick Slangen of the Netherlands.
The win produced a semi-final
meeting with decorated Russian Oleg Kretsul, the reigning Paralympic
champion.
Kretsul, 36, who took silver
in Athens, was a tenacious competitor as he firmly dealt with
Sam’s best attacks before the determined Brit started to wear
down his game opponent and took the hard-fought victory by ippon.
In the final Sam produced
a lung-bursting effort against France’s Olivier Cugnon. The 2010
IBSA VI World silver medallist was spurred on by a partisan crowd
and sealed the first VI European title of his career with a devastating
tomoe nage.
Sam Ingram seals gold with tomoe nage
Sam Ingram said: “I’ve
been chasing top spot for a long time, it was ideal getting to
fight the Russian Kretsul and Frenchman Cugnon.
"The team has managed
to gel quickly, we’ve got a good mix of younger and older judoka
and it’s been a good weekend for us.”
On top of the -90kg medal rostrum
Britain’s Dan Powell was
also in action for Britain as he saw action in the -81kg category.
Dan, 20, was cheered on
by a crowd including his team-mate and brother Marc and father
Terry, a former VI World Champion.
The Liverpool judoka faced
Russian Anatoly Shevchenko in his opening bout and immediately
pressed for an opening.
However, after a strong
start the Dartford-based judoka was unfortunately disqualified
for a rule infringement having been adjudged to have tried to
sweep his opponents standing leg forward.
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