By Mike Rowbottom

Ben Quilter_with_European_gold_medal_November_18_2011November 18 - Ben Quilter earned gold for Britain in the Visually Impaired European Judo Championships at Crawley today to set himself up for his Paralympic quest in 2012.


"I've now won the VI World Games, VI World Championships and VI European Championships," said the 30-year-old from Brighton.

"I just need a Paralympic Games gold medal to complete my collection."

Quilter won four fights in the -60kg category en route to his first European title at the K2 Arena, winning his first, against Italy's Mirko Mingione, in just six seconds.

He did not exactly waste time either against his next opponent, Greek judoka Eleftherios Zervakis, whom he defeated in 20 seconds.

The semi-final against Ukraine's Serhill Kotenko provided a sterner test for the athlete who trains full-time at the British Judo Performance Institute in Dartford as he was forced into golden score.

Quilter responded almost immediately with a third successive ippon that booked his place in the final.

In the final the Briton faced Artem Merkulov of Russia and looked sharp early on as he immediately pressured for a breakthrough.

After opening the scoring with a yuko, Quilter sealed victory by ippon and raised his arms in jubilation to acknowledge the support of the home crowd.

"I felt pressure coming into the event," he said.

"I had a lot of family and friends at the venue to support me, and so I'm delighted to win and quite relieved at the same time."

Quilter attributed his incredible success to the highly-impressive Visually Impaired programme which is led by Paralympic Performance Coach Jean-Paul Bell and Performance Programme Manager Dave Sanders.

"The Visually Impaired team is fully integrated at the British Judo Performance Institute in Dartford where we train with fully sighted judoka of the highest calibre," Quilter said.

"One of my main training partners for example is Colin Oates who took bronze at the European Championships and a fifth-place at the World Championships.

"We're now finalising our schedule for next year with the focus firmly on the Paralympic Games where I'm hoping to peak."

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January 2011: Sanders calls for consistency from British Judo's visually-impaired team in Heidelberg