Swabian final in Wemding
On November 23, 2024, the final fights of the Swabian League in judo took place in Wemding with the teams from Wemding, Kampfgemeinschaft (KG) Kaufbeuren/Kempten, Friedberg, KG Lindau/Memmingen and Königsbrunn. After KG Kaufbeuren/Kempten had already gained a good cushion of points from the preliminary rounds and was currently leading the league, the reigning champions TSV Wemding were in second place, just ahead of SF Friedberg and TSV Königsbrunn.
The judoka from Kaufbeuren/Kempten confidently extended their lead to an unassailable extent and were thus confirmed as Swabian champions, the fighters from Lindau/Memmingen competed with weakened substitutes and ended up in 5th place.
The Königsbrunners with coach Jona Schmidt were lined up with Julian Skipiol -66 kg, Benedikt Kaiser -73kg, Manuel Hartwig -81kg, as well as the supporting Augsburg judokas Benjamin Streubel -81 kg, Philipp Winkler -90 kg and Stefan Michaelis +90 kg the mat. With a defeat against Kaufbeuren/Kempten, a draw against Friedberg and a win against Lindau/Memmingen, the encounter against Wemding, who suffered a narrow defeat against Friedberg, was supposed to decide the further placings.
The last fight of the day brings the decision
After valuable victories from Philipp, Julian and Benedikt, Benjamin and Stefan had to admit defeat to the strong Wemdingers. With the score at 3:2 for Königsbrunn, the final and decisive fight of the day was eagerly awaited: Manuel Hartwig against Benedikt Braun from Wemdingen. In a sometimes even fight, neither judoka was able to score a score. As the game continued, however, Manuel cleverly took advantage of his opponent’s backwards movement and managed to throw his opponent off balance with a lightning-clean Ko Soto Gake and throw him to the mat with Ippon. There was great celebration among the Königsbrunner judokas, because with this important victory Königsbrunn secured the runner-up title in an impressive team performance.
League fighter of the season
In addition to the trophy for the team runners-up, competition newcomer Benjamin Streubel was pleased to receive an award as the best league fighter of the season.
