Paralympic Games: Quilter fights back to clinch bronze medal in judo

The No 1 seed in the under 60kg category was knocked out at the first hurdle by reigning champion Mouloud Noura.

However, Quilter dusted himself down after the quarter-final defeat and, having come through two repechage bouts, beat Japan’s Takaaki Hirai in the bronze medal encounter.

“This morning I wanted to go home,” Quilter said. “I would have happily have said: ‘Forget it’.

“It was such a long journey back from that. I am not used to losing and I’ve had the most amazing three years in the build-up to this.

“Seven weeks ago I snapped the cruciate ligament in my knee and severely ruptured the medial ligament on the inside of my knee, so there were massive questions marks over whether I’d even be here. To be here and to win bronze is fantastic.

“Coming into today, I think I was kidding myself a little bit that I was still going to be able to perform to my best.

“It was far from my best today, but I had enough. I had fantastic support to get me here and I am just really pleased to have won a medal.”

Having overcome Mongolia’s Munkhbat Aajim in the first repechage round yesterday afternoon, Quilter looked rejuvenated in the second session as he beat the United States’ Ronald Hawthorne and then Hirai.

As hard as those two fights were, though, the Brighton-born judoka believes that, if it was not for the crowd in east London, he would not have made it past Aajim

“I don’t know how I managed to pick myself up to fight the Mongolian,” he said. “I think the crowd helped me massively

“In a combat sport like this when the chips are down, it is easy to give up and think: ‘It’s just not my day.’

“It was really tough to drag myself back, I’m not going to lie, but the crowd were fantastic and I didn’t want to let anyone down, especially myself. I just wanted to perform as best I could with what I had.”