By Mike Rowbottom

Sam Ingram_with_European_gold_medal_November_19_2011November 19 - Beijing Paralympic bronze medallist Sam Ingram captured Britain's second Visually Impaired European Championship judo title 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 victory over Rick Slangen of the Netherlands.

The win produced a semi-final meeting with decorated Russian Oleg Kretsul, the reigning Paralympic Games gold medallist.

Kretsul, 36, who took silver in Athens in 2004, 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 Ingram produced a lung-bursting effort against France's Olivier Cugnon.

The 2010 IBSA VI World Championships silver medallist was spurred on by a partisan crowd and sealed the first VI European title of his career with a devastating tomoe nage.

"I've been chasing top spot for a long time," said Ingram.

"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."

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