Five teams, two competition areas, three matches, a full hut and a great atmosphere. This is the short summary of the first day of the Judo District League in Munich, which took place on April 27th, 2022 in the BayernwerkArena. It was the first district league fight day since 2019, since the 2020 season could not be started due to the pandemic. The league also started with what is known as a unique innovation in Germany, namely as the first league in mexed-team mode. In addition to the seven weight classes for men (-66, 2x -73, 2x -81, -90, +90kg), which formed the district league teams before Corona, there were now three women’s classes from the Olympic mixed competition (-57, – 70, +70kg) so that teams of 10 are now fighting.
TSV Unterhaching is represented with two teams in the district league this year, as has been the case for years in cooperation with SC Armin Munich.
The Unterhaching I team started against the fighters from Samurai Munich. In the -73kg class, Dominik Samson and Bernard Gravot had to admit defeat against Luco Wunderer and Malcom Praun before Adi Piprek (bye) and Michael Henneberger equalized the 2.2 in the 81kg class. Ashley Heimann (-70kg) and Conny Schubauer (+70kg) raised the score to 4.2 for the people from Unterhaching. , But then the Hachinger series broke, Sophia Pistora (-57kg) against Yvonne Zimmermann, Klaus Aehlig (+90kg) against Ingo Sievers, Jan Baumeister (-90kg) against Christoph Hock and Hendrik Schneider against Ludwig Faulstroh had to give up their encounters, so that in the end it was 4:6 from the point of view of the Hachinger.
At the same time, the match between PSV Munich and the judo team Northeast (consisting of VfR Garching and ESV Munich East) took place on the second competition area. Nordost was able to quickly take the lead with 3.0 at first, but then the PSV fighters turned up the heat. Christian Bichler defeated Michael Breyl with two Waza-ari. Jeanette Dörflinger led with a waza-ari against Elisabeth Bolakina for a long time before the Northeast fighter was disqualified with the third Shido. Anett Dörig (Northeast, +70kg) lost to Simone Wolf before Nina lappschies put PSV in the lead with a bye. Two more victories by Rolf Schmidt against Markus Wagler and Michael Bichler against Lutz Bettels ensured the early decision in favor of PSV before Florian Zischka was able to reduce the score against Quasem Amiri to the final score of 6:4.
Finally, the match between Unterhaching I and Unterhaching II followed. The Unterhaching II team had the edge on this day. Suleyman Al Ahmadi starts for Team II with a win against Dominik Samson in the -73kg class, Florian Exner increased the lead to 2:0 with an ippon for Sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi (foot block) against Adi Piprek. Fynn Strecker (-81kg) had to admit defeat against the experienced Michael Henneberger in his first adult fight due to the pandemic. However, his two briefly applied grab handles clearly showed the existing potential. With Willy Huber and Bernard Gravor there were 66kg fighters on both sides in the second fight of the -81kg class, Huber restored the 2-point lead for Team II with a hold. In the -70kg class, Ashley Heimann went against Karin Beer on the mat and was able to shorten the time again with an ippon for Soto-maki-komi. Tess Bobrowski (Team II, +70kg) fell behind early on against Conny Schubauer. However, she was able to equalize with her own throwing technique and in the subsequent ground fight with a grab hold she was able to win. Things went quickly between Selina Beer (Team II, -57kg) and Sophia Pistora. After only 7 seconds Beer had her opponent with Ura-nage (counter technique) on the back – Ippon. Alexander Kopp (+90kg) was also successful against Horst Schiller with a counter technique and got the sixth point for Team II. Felix Niklaus (-90kg) needed half of the fighting time against Jan Baumeister and two Waza-ari for Team II to 7: 2 to increase. The final fight in the -66kg class was the pairing of Hendrik Schneider and Felix Hofreiter. A quick throw after just a few seconds gave Hofreiter the Waza-ari lead, and a further 10 seconds of hold made the final score 8:2.
It continues on May 13th for Unterhaching I and on May 20th for Unterhaching II. In addition, on May 6th there is the opening fight of the district league under the flag of SC Armin, where both teams then unite against MTV Munich, but without the women, will compete.
