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Live coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games - Thursday, August 30 UPDATED 10pm

By: Alex Hoad

Published: 07:00, 30 August 2012

Updated: 12:20, 11 January 2021

Ben Quilter

by Alex Hoad at ExCeL Arena

10pm - Ok I'm signing off for today. I'll be back bright and early from the Royal Artillery Barracks where I'll be watching Nathan Milgate's quest for a shooting medal.

I'll also keep you up to date with Claire Harvey's sitting volleyball fortunes and those of Hennahane and Bayley whom we met today.

Goodnight.

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9.45pm - Ben Quilter had plenty to say about his campaign, his injury, the crowd, what he thinks about the different colours of medals.

6.23pm - Sorry I missed it earlier in all the furore here, but archer Richard Hennahane finished 16th and will face a first elimination round clash with Czech Republic's Jiri Klich tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.

Good afternoon really, apart from the volleyball.

6.15pm - Full story from Quilter to come later, but now I can tell you that Will Bayley cruised through his opening game in just 16 minutes, winning 11-8, 11-7, 11-2 against his Thai opponent.

Perfect start really. He'll be back in action at 5.20pm tomorrow.

5.51PM - BEN QUILTER WINS A BRONZE MEDAL IN THE UNDER-60KG JUDO

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Feels good to see a guy who lives in Kent win a medal.

Quilter was simply too good. He demolished his opponent Hirai. Pinning him early and brilliantly and never letting go.

The points clocked up but Ben could have held it all night and the judged awarded him victory by Ippon to spark jubilant scenes.

This place really is noisier than the velodrome. I can't believe how loud that was.

Ben milked the cheers, waving a Union Jack, greeting friends and family and being hoisted into the air by a teammate.

Well done Ben. You did Stone, Gravesham, Kent and Great Britain proud.

He was fifth in Beijing in a major shock. So glad he has something to show for the hard work.

5.40pm - Running a little behind schedule at ExCel but almost Quilter time.

Elsewhere Bayley has gone a set up, winning the opener 11-8.

5.15pm - Takaaki Hirai of Japan is the man Quilter must beat to earn a bronze medal.

Could be off as soon as 5.25pm.

4.55pm - Ben Quilter has to win just one more fight to secure a Paralympic bronze medal after overcoming Hawthorne.

In a far quicker contest than either of his previous two, Quilter had his opponent in trouble regularly, was able to avoid the American's big kicks and was lightning quick on the mat, scoring two single points and then piling on the points during a prolonged pinning on the mat which yielded 20-points via two Waza-aris before the judges awarded Quilter victory.

Could be less than half an hour until Quilter goes for his medal!

4.34pm - Around 15 minutes until Ben Quilter is back to face Roland Hawthorne, and less than an hour until Will Bayley gets his table tennis campaign underway not a million miles from this hall.

4.26pm - After 54 of the 72 arrows in the ranking round of the men's individual compound archery, open class, at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Chatham-born Richard Hennahane, 31, lies 14th with 484 points, 28 adrift of the leader.

The round of 16 will follow tomorrow, but 12 of today's competitors will not make it.

Few more 10s please Richard.

4.14pm - Ok. Updates. Unfortunately the GB sitting volleyball men suffered a straight sets defeat at the hands of Beijing bronze medallists Russia this afternoon.

25-14, 25-18, 25-20 was the score in their opening group game but they can draw a lot of confidence from it.

Folkestone-based Gurkha Netra Rana, Dover-born Charlie Walker and Beckenham-raised Richard Dobell were all in the GB squad.

“Russia got up to speed quickly,” said Dobell, a former standing and beach volleyball international.

“We struggled but the first game is notoriously difficult. It was amazing to get the first game out of the way.

“We are a strong, physical team and have to get up to speed quicker. We've got three games to make it work.”

Britain’s second game is on Friday evening against Egypt who play Morocco this evening.

1.48pm - Next up for Quilter is Ronald Hawthorne of the USA at around 4.45pm in the repechage finals.

Despite his win over Aajim, Quilter admitted: "It was disappointing to come back. I didn’t want to be there.

"I wanted to win my first fight, I had it all mapped out in my head.

"It wasn’t to be. It’s a long way back from here but (beating Aajim) is a step in the right direction so I just need to keep going."

Of his earlier defeat, Quilter added: "He outgripped me. He was a better judo player on that occasion.

"He’s a great judo player, he’s Paralympic champion. It was just unfortunate, a clash of styles, left on left.

"I’ll learn a lot from it and I’ll have to change a few things next time."

He added: "I’d love to be able to start again, but it’s another session, I have just got to keep focused and keep going until the day is finished and then hopefully I’ll be in a better mood."

1.30pm - MUCH more like it from Quilter, who wins by Ippon with two minutes remaining.

There were no scoring moves in the opening half of the contest, with Quilter just failing to hold down Aajim on more than one occasion.

However with little over two minutes remaining Quilter flung the Mongolian to the floor to win by Ippon - a straight knock-out effectively - send the home crowd wild and keep alive his chances of a bronze medal.

1.07pm - Quilter's next appearance will be against our old pal Munkhbat Aajim of Mongolia in the first round of the repechage at about 1.30pm.

Hope Ben can dus himself off before then and go through to the repechage finals.

12.52pm - There will be no gold medal for Ben Quilter at these Games.

Defending champion Noura was just too good for the Stone man, winning by ippon inside the final two minutes of the five minute contest.

In truth though it could have been over sooner, as the Algerian landed two scoring blows and had Quilter on the back-foot from the start.

His only real attacking attempts at the African's legs failed to land and the World No1 was left facing a fight for a bronze medal in the repechage.

11.35am - Ben Quilter will face Algerian Mouloud Noura in the quarter-final of the under-60kg judo class at ExCel at 12.50pm.

Noura made light work of superbly-named Mongolian Munkhbat Aajim in the preliminary round this morning to book a clash with Quilter, who received a bye through the preliminary round.

The winner will progress to the semi-finals shortly after 4pm with the gold medal contest at 6.10pm.

8am - Tunbridge Wells table tennis ace Will Bayley will begin his quest for a Paralympic medal at ExCel this afternoon.

The 2011 European Champion will face Thailand’s Namasanga Yuttanga in his opening Group B clash at 5.20pm, with the other group game against Keli Liao of China at 5.20pm on Friday.

The 24-year-old Byng Hall Club member has arthrogryposis, which affects the joints in all four limbs, and is taking part in the Class 7 singles and Class 6-8 Team event, which begins next week, at London 2012.

Bayley will be looking to secure his place in the quarter-finals on Saturday lunchtime by recording back-to-back victories in the group stage.

Before then Folkestone-based Netra Rana, Dover-born Charlie Walker and Beckenham-born Richard Dobell will line-up for GB in their opening sitting volleyball group game against Russia at 2pm.

Also at 2pn Chatham-born archer Richard Hennahane takes part in the Men’s Individual Compound Open class ranking round at the Royal Military Barracks.

The 31-year-old will be seeking to book his spot in Friday’s last-16 round.

First up though will be judoka Ben Quilter (pictured), who trains at the home of British Judo in Dartford and who has been based in nearby Stone for the past five years.

The visually impaired 30-year-old double World and European Champion was hotly tipped for a medal in his debut Games in Beijing but eventually finished a disappointing fifth.

Quilter received a bye through the opening preliminary round of the under-60kg class and will now await the winner of this morning’s first round clash between Mouloud Noura of Algeria and Mongolian Munkhbat Aajim in the second round, sometime after 1pm at ExCel.

I'll be providing live updates on Kent competitors and other Games news throughout the day both here and on twitter - @kentonline2012

Alex Hoad at the Games - Twitter button

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