After a break of more than two years due to Corona, things finally started again on April 30th. 80 ID judoka from North Rhine-Westphalia and six athletes from the Netherlands met at the restart of the ID judo competitions in the Oberhausen-Osterfeld comprehensive school to fight for their national champions.
Until 2019, the ID state championships were regularly held in Cologne. But due to a lack of helpers, the 1st Cologne Karate Club Bushido 1961 eV was no longer able to continue organizing the championships. So it was really lucky that the Turnerbund Osterfeld, in cooperation with PSV Oberhausen, was able to step in at short notice and take over this event.
As expected, the number of participants of 200 ID judoka, which was usual before the pandemic, has more than halved. Most judoka can train again in their clubs, but in many workshops and dormitories there are still considerable problems with judo training in the sports halls.
Absolutely on time, at 10:00 a.m., we finally started. 86 ID judokas started, including four ID world champions and further ID European champions. Six ID judoka came from the Institut Verhagen in the Netherlands, with whom there has been a very intensive cooperation for several years. The ID judoka from the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia hold joint squad training sessions in Venray (NL) and in NRW more frequently each year.
Fighting took place on two judo mats in three different competition classes, divided according to the type and severity of the handicap, gender, weight and, if possible, age.
In competition class 1, the judoka started with the lower handicap, in competition class III the motor impairments were more significant.
In the individual competition groups, 2-5 judoka met each other. Everyone had to fight against everyone, no fighter was eliminated early, everyone stayed until the end of the respective competition.
While competition class 3 was still fought with relatively limited movement dynamics, competition class 2 and of course especially in WK 1 were fast-paced.
Most athletes could not see the long Corona break. Commitment and commitment were like before Corona and simply admirable. You could see all the judoka how happy they were to finally be able to fight again. Unfortunately, the duels between the judoka from the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia, which were awaited with great excitement, ended in favor of the Dutch.
In the class up to 66 kg Patrick Barendonk could not beat his Dutch opponent Lesly Ijzerman and in the 90 kg class Timo Karmasch didn’t stand a chance against his French opponent Ifeanyyi Oguejiofor, who lives in the Netherlands.
Shortly after 1:00 p.m., the award ceremony for all competitors with certificates and medals took place. Everyone agreed. It was a very successful and absolutely injury-free judo event. A big thank you goes to the Oberhausen/Osterfeld team around Sergio Sessini, who made this very successful restart of the ID judoka in NRW possible with their commitment.
