FOREST-based wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver has won gold on the second day of the Tokyo Paralympics.

The 26-year-old from Drybrook triumphed in the epee competition - to add to his gold in the event at the 2019 World Championships in Korea and a silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Gilliver bounced back from the disappointment of an early exit from the sabre competition on the opening day.

He considers the epee his stronger event and was confident of putting in a good performance after defeat in the sabre to China’s Li Hao.

Gilliver first tried wheelchair fencing at his local club in Cheltenham in 2010.

He joined the Disabled Fencing Association the following year and was selected for the British team in July 2012.

He made his international debut in an epee competition in the Polish capital Warsaw finishing a creditable 11th.

In the same year he was chosen to be part of the British Paralympic Association’s Inspiration Programme and experience London 2012 to gain an insight into the atmosphere of the Paralympic Games.

Gilliver was the Junior Under-23s Category A epee in 2013 and claimed three straight World Cup titles.

In 2015 he was World Number One in the individual Category A epee.

He was World Number One for five years

Gilliver made it to the podium nine times in the run-up to the Games in Rio in 2016 and has had success in the World Championships, European Championships and the World Cup circuit.

He becomes the second Forest of Dean athlete to win Paralympic gold after Andy Lewis from Lydney who won the triathlon in Rio.

The Games are the 16th Summer Paralympics and will run until Sunday, September 5.

FOREST-based wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver has won gold on the second day of the Tokyo Paralympics.

The 26-year-old from Drybrook triumphed in the epee competition - to add to his gold in the event at the 2019 World Championships in Korea and a silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Gilliver bounced back from the disappointment of an early exit from the sabre competition on the opening day.

He considers the epee his stronger event and was confident of putting in a good performance after defeat in the sabre to China’s Li Hao.

Gilliver first tried wheelchair fencing at his local club in Cheltenham in 2010.

He joined the Disabled Fencing Association the following year and was selected for the British team in July 2012.

He made his international debut in an epee competition in the Polish capital Warsaw finishing a creditable 11th.

In the same year he was chosen to be part of the British Paralympic Association’s Inspiration Programme and experience London 2012 to gain an insight into the atmosphere of the Paralympic Games.

Gilliver was the Junior Under-23s Category A epee in 2013 and claimed three straight World Cup titles.

In 2015 he was World Number One in the individual Category A epee.

He was World Number One for five years

Gilliver made it to the podium nine times in the run-up to the Games in Rio in 2016 and has had success in the World Championships, European Championships and the World Cup circuit.

He becomes the second Forest of Dean athlete to win Paralympic gold after Andy Lewis from Lydney who won the triathlon in Rio.

The Games are the 16th Summer Paralympics and will run until Sunday, September 5.

The 26-year-old from Drybrook triumphed in the epee competition - to add to his gold in the event at the 2019 World Championships in Korea and a silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Gilliver bounced back from the disappointment of an early exit from the sabre competition on the opening day.

He considers the epee his stronger event and was confident of putting in a good performance after defeat in the sabre to China’s Li Hao.

Gilliver first tried wheelchair fencing at his local club in Cheltenham in 2010.

He joined the Disabled Fencing Association the following year and was selected for the British team in July 2012.

He made his international debut in an epee competition in the Polish capital Warsaw finishing a creditable 11th.

In the same year he was chosen to be part of the British Paralympic Association’s Inspiration Programme and experience London 2012 to gain an insight into the atmosphere of the Paralympic Games.

Gilliver was the Junior Under-23s Category A epee in 2013 and claimed three straight World Cup titles.

In 2015 he was World Number One in the individual Category A epee.

He was World Number One for five years

Gilliver made it to the podium nine times in the run-up to the Games in Rio in 2016 and has had success in the World Championships, European Championships and the World Cup circuit.

He becomes the second Forest of Dean athlete to win Paralympic gold after Andy Lewis from Lydney who won the triathlon in Rio.

The Games are the 16th Summer Paralympics and will run until Sunday, September 5.