Swanley’s David Stanley will jet off to Rio in September after being selected to officiate at his third Paralympic Games.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) and Paralympic Referee has officiated at an international level for 27 years with 15 of those as a Visually Impaired (VI) ref.

Having refereed at both the Athens and London Paralympic Games, alongside numerous European and World Championships, Mr Stanley brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role.

“I feel very pleased to be selected for the Paralympics in Rio as this will be my third Paralympics for the VI Judo,” he said. “It is a real privilege and I am thoroughly looking forward to the event.

“I enjoy refereeing VI judo because the players are very skilled in the art of Judo and show a lot of enthusiasm in what they do, under the pressure of lack of sight and in some cases being totally blind and also deaf at the same time.”

The Swanley referee admits that refereeing VI Judo does bring its own very specific challenges.

“There are many challenges in refereeing VI Players, there are the IJF rules and also the IBSA Judo rules which are used at the Paralympics, so the referee have to know both set of rules and work with them together,” Mr Stanley added.

“This means the referee needs to understand and control the VI players by different signals and commands, in the case of deaf players the referee has to understand and perform special sign language.”

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games start on Wednesday 7 September with the Judo competition kicking off on September 8.

To find out more about VI Judo visit britishjudo.org.uk.