A gold medal at the home European Judo Open is something very special. 10 years after the last home win, it is again Ludwig “Lupo” Paischer (JU Flachgau/S), who gives the fans in the Oberwart sports hall goosebumps. His final victory over the Brazilian Felipe Kitadai, who took bronze in London 2012, was the culmination of a great day.
The number 4 seeded Paischer wins in round 2 with 2 Shidos against the Kazakh Zhauyntayev and already shows in this fight that he has taken the momentum from Paris with him. In round 3 he wins against the strong Chinese An with yuko and in the quarterfinals against the Mongolian Bakytbekuulu with ippon for tomoe nage. This puts Lupo in the semifinals, which he certainly wins against Shirinli (AZE) with ippon for a stranglehold. Lupo dominates the final again, both fighters show strong attacks, which, however, lead to no scores. After the 5 minutes Ludwig Paischer was only warned once, his Brazilian opponent three times. So gold for Austria!
Other Austrians also put in strong performances: Andreas Tiefgraber (PSV Salzburg/S) made it to the quarter-finals with wins against Vieru (ROM), Valiyev (AZE) and a remarkable Ippon victory for Tomoe nage against Shamilov (RUS). Here Andreas delivers a strong fight against the French Larose, Vice European Champion from 2014, is in the lead with Shido until 20 seconds before the end and then has to accept a dubious Shido. So the fight goes into the golden score, which Andreas unfortunately loses. In the repechage Andreas draws the short straw against the Serbian Vukicevic and finishes the strong tournament in 7th place.
The only 18-year-old Christopher Wagner (Volksbank Galaxy Tigers/W) puts in another talent test with 2 wins, above all he impresses with a wonderful Ippon for Tai otoshi against the Chinese Sai.
Tobias Weixelbauer (UJZ Mühlviertel/OÖ) can win a fight, the other Austrians on the first day Kimran Borchasvili (LZ Multikraft Wels/OÖ), Florian Doppelhammer (Union Hartkirchen/OÖ), Stefan Kudera (Volksbank Galaxy Tigers/W), Dominik Lang (Sportunion Noricum Leibnitz/Stmk) and Stefan Moser (WAT Stadlau/W) fail in the first fight.
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