Before they left for Tokyo, the Wels Olympians were officially bid farewell. With Sabrina Filzmoser and Shamil Borchashvili from the judo performance center Multikraft Wels, two judokas are at the games for the first time in the club’s history. Karate-Do Wels – the club trains like Multikraft in the Budokan Center – sends Bettina Plank to the games. Sports advisor Gerhard Kroiss and Mayor Andreas Rabl (both FPÖ) presented the Olympic athletes with flowers and a Wels basket.
Biggest medal hope
The hopes for precious metal lie above all with Shamil Borchashvili. After his sensational second place at the Grand Slam in Doha (Qatar), the 26-year-old has his first Olympic ticket in his pocket. The judo association has also delegated Shamil’s brother Kimran as the official companion and training partner.
After a break from injury, Sabrina Filzmoser had to fear for her participation until the end. With sixth place in the continental ranking, she is now firmly qualified for Tokyo. She received the good news on her 41st birthday. For the former European champion and third place in the World Cup, it will be the fourth Olympic Games.
historical event
Karateka Bettina Plank is attending a historic event in Japan: for the first time, her sport is an Olympic discipline. With around 4500 athletes from 200 nations there was a real run for the karate tickets with only 89 starting places. Plank got hold of one of them.
The 28-year-old comes from Vorarlberg, comes from the army athletes camp and was already European champion in the Kumite discipline and twice third in the World Cup. Right at the beginning of the game it is the turn of the judoka. Sabrina Filzmoser will be on duty from Monday, July 26th. Shamil Borchashvili’s first fight is on Wednesday July 28th. (fam)
