Ben Fletcher exited the 2017 World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary at the round of 32 after a golden score loss to Ramadan Darwish (EGY) on Saturday 2 September.

The British judoka had picked up big results and wins this year including silver at the Cancun Grand Prix as well as wins over Rio silver medallist Elmar Gasimov (AZE) and former World medallist Jose Armenteros (CUB).

Fletcher took on Brazil’s Luciano Correa in the first round. The British judoka had fought Correa on four occasions before today, winning three of those contests. Each of those wins has been a close contest and today was no different.

In a very tactical contest neither judoka was able to get any real advantage though both did enough to ensure that no shidos were picked up. The contest went into golden score and with 55 seconds on the clock Fletcher was finally able to throw Correa for waza-ari.

Former world medallist Ramadan Darwish was next in the round of 32. The two-time Olympian had looked strong in his opening contest, beating Denis Tachii (MDA). In a very physical match-up both judoka had opportunities but neither were able fully take advantage.

Both men picked up an early shido for passivity but no scores meant it went into golden score. Off the first exchange Fletcher went on the attack but was countered by Darwish for waza-ari.

Fletcher was the last GB judoka in action in the individual competition but a GB team will be back on the mat for the Mixed Team event on Sunday 3 September.

Competition starts at 0800 UK time (0900 local) with the draw taking place this afternoon at 1430 UK time (1530 local).

Follow all the action live on britishjudo.org.uk and live.ijf.org with live build-up and updates via @BritishJudo on Twitter. Don’t forget to tweet your support at #WeAreGBJudo