WOKINGHAM’S Ben Fletcher booked his place at this year’s World Championships in August by recording his best Grand Prix result to date – a silver medal in Cancun, Mexico.

The Rio 2016 Olympian and Team Bath star was in fantastic form in the men’s -100kg category, beating LA Smith III of the United States by two waza-ari scores before overcoming Cuba’s Andy Granda after forcing a third Shido penalty in the golden-score period.

Ex-Pinewood Judo Club star Fletcher then faced former World silver-medallist Jose Armenteros in a closely-fought semi-final, the Cuban being forced to tap out after picking up an injury when he was thrown for waza-ari.

That result confirmed Fletcher’s place at the World Championships and also secured his place in the final against Israel’s Peter Paltchik. Both fighters went on the attack in an excellent contest but it was Paltchik who took the win.

Juergen Klinger, High Performance Coach at the University of Bath, said: “It was a great result by Ben to win the silver medal, I’m very happy with his performances.

“Our main target was to get that World Championships qualification wrapped up and that is what I am most pleased about. Now we can take a step back and focus on being as well prepared for that as possible.”

Fletcher’s medal was one of nine won by GB Judo at the Cancun Grand Prix, making them the most successful nation.