After the successful autumn season with winning the German championship title and two medals at European Cups, judoka Kevin Abeltshauser also made the jump to the ITF (International Judo Federation) level.
The man from Abensberg mastered the first round of the Grand Slam in Tokyo, but failed in an exciting battle against the eventual runner-up in round two. In round one, the 22-year-old achieved his personal goal against Dimitar Gospodinov (Bulgaria): “Fifth in the U23 European Championships was anything but a bye, but I definitely wanted to win,” said Abeltshauser. Abeltshauser completed the mission with a Wazaari rating, which he managed over time. However, he was denied a chance to make it to the pool final: the reigning vice world champion Tatsuki Ishihara was one size too big.
Strong hold fight against Tatsuki Ishihara
Abeltshauser drew positive conclusions from the test of strength: “It was clear that I had a very difficult task ahead of me. But I fought with confidence and got things under control very well.” The good performance was reflected in the penalty scores at times. While Abeltshauser was hit with one shido, Ishihara was on the verge of defeat with two shidos. “I thought I could crack the opponent,” said Abeltshauser. The 23-year-old Japanese showed his class in the threatening situation, managed a throwing technique and won with an ippon score. Abeltshauser’s disappointment softened the realization: “I have shown that I can keep up with an absolute top man.” Jano Rübo was the second DJB representative in the 73 kg class, failing in round one to Yongmin Kim (South Korea). Ryuga Tanaka (Japan) secured the Grand Slam title ahead of Abeltshauser’s conqueror Ishihara.
Early end for the DJB colleagues
Johann Lenz, Abeltshauser’s teammate from the Judo Bundesliga team TSV Abensberg, attacked in the weight class up to 90 kilograms. After the bye in round one, Lenz was eliminated in round two against Alex Bartko (Slovakia). Gold went to Sanshiro Murao (Japan), silver to Luka Maisuradze (Georgia). In the weight class up to 100 kilograms, Johannes Frey failed after a bye to Leonardo Goncalves (Brazil). The class was won by IJF athlete Matvey Kanikovskiy ahead of Gennaro Pirelli (Italy). From Abeltshauser’s perspective, his debut on the ITF tour could have gone worse. “The first world ranking points have been collected at this level. This is an important step forward for me that I wanted to take in Tokyo.”
The Grand Slam was immediately followed by an international training camp in Tokyo. Here too, Abeltshauser set himself a clear goal: “I want to get as many judoka from Japan as possible in the training competitions.”
