Powell wins judo silver after 'going through hell'

Powell also spent time as a Para-athlete

Britain’s Dan Powell said his first Paralympic judo medal was a reward for going through "hell" over the past 16 years.

The 33-year-old, who made his debut at London 2012 and then competed at Tokyo 2020, lost by ippon to Brazil’s Arthur Cavalcante da Silva in the -90kg J1 final in Paris with one minute and 12 seconds of the bout remaining.

But he was still delighted to come away from his third Games with a medal.

"This is 16 years in the making," he said.

"It has been hell - winning, losing, breaking my body, breaking my head and coming back again - and doing it today means so much."

Later, Chris Skelley won bronze in the +90kg J2 category, to add to the gold he won in the 100kg event in Tokyo.

Liverpudlian Powell is an all-around sportsman who shot to fame in 2018 when he appeared on ITV show Ninja Warrior UK, becoming the first person with a visual impairment to take part.

After finishing seventh in Para-judo in Tokyo, he took up rowing, impressing there too.

But with the judo classification changing to include separate divisions for blind and visually-impaired fighters in Paris, he made the decision to concentrate his efforts on it again.

"This a million per cent justifies the decision to come back to the sport," he said.

"I love fighting, I love judo, I love competing, and being able to fly around the world and compete is the most amazing feeling, and especially to be watched here by my little boy, Edward."

As well as the silver medal, which sees him surpass the achievements of his father Terry, who won bronze medals in judo at the Seoul and Atlanta Games in 1988 and 96 respectively, he will also take pride from his dramatic golden-point semi-final win over French legend and home-crowd favourite Cyril Jonard.

"I loved beating the Frenchman in his back yard," Powell said. "I have a lot of respect for the guy. He is a 10-time world champion. But for me, to be able to do that is why I do it.

"It was difficult physically in the final. I popped my rib in the semi-final so I had to shrug that off and calm down after that and not let my body get stiff and recover in a couple of hours.

"That is the hardest part, so I’m delighted I could come back, get warmed up and ready and give a show for myself in the final and win another medal for the Powell household."