Judoka Powell equals London 2012 performance

ParalympicsGB judoka Daniel Powell repeated his performance from London 2012 as he finished seventh in the men’s -81kg category.

Two-time Paralympian Powell won his first bout at Tokyo 2020 convincingly before losing in the quarterfinals and final A of the repechage.

Powell was making his return to the Paralympic judo mat having taken time away from the sport to compete in athletics and showed he had not lost his fighting spirit.

The 30-year-old got off to a great start with victory over Harlley Damiao Pereira Arruda of Brazil, winning in 2 minutes and 43 seconds after registering ippon, a repeat of the outcome when the pair met at London nine years ago.

Powell was forced to fight back in the second half of the contest after his Brazilian opponent scored a waza-ari but his experience shone through as he advanced to the next round.

In the quarter-finals, the Liverpool native came up against Huseyn Rahimli of Azerbaijan, the world number four.

Rahimli dominated the contest registering a waza-ari early on before throwing Powell for ippon to record the victory, as the Brit was forced to settle for the repechage and a potential chance to fight for bronze.

He came up against Nathan Petit in final A of the repechage with the French judoka inflicting an ippon defeat inside two minutes to end Powell’s hopes of a medal.

The Loughborough-based judoka said: “[The first-round victory] was a great win for me. It was nice to start the day off well. It was an emotional battle with him and it got tough at times. It was a good way of blowing out some emotions.

“After that (the first round), I had two very tough opponents. It hasn’t gone the way that I trained for. This is judo, you can win and lose on the smallest margins.

“I was fitter and stronger than I have ever been coming into the competition. It’s one of those things. That’s judo!

“I will take some time after this competition to get my elbow sorted as that requires surgery. The rehab team at British Judo have got me in a great position to be here today. I just need to get myself fixed up now and go again!

“I have changed massively. That was nine years ago then and I was just a child and now I am a man with a little lad. It has been really tough being away from home!”