On April 2nd, 2022, BC Karlsruhe welcomed ESV Ingolstadt to their first home match day of the 2022 season – for the first time in 2 ½ years with spectators.
The opening fight up to 81 kg was made by Daniel Reimer, who had moved up one weight class, against Lukas Brandstetter. In a demanding fight, Daniel had to wait a long time for his chance before he took over an attack from his opponent and countered it with Ippon. This gave BCK a 1-0 lead.
Then Philipp Koch met Christopher Sommer. After 1 ½ minutes, Philipp managed a Waza-ari for Ura-Nage (lifter) followed by a hold, so that he was able to decide the fight early – 2:0 for BCK.
In the heavyweight division, the Serbian 154kg colossus Vladimir Gajic met Christopher Vance. Vladimir was able to use his physical superiority to punish his opponent, who received 3 warnings and was disqualified. The 3:0 for the BCK.
16-year-old Lucas Mayr met Dimitros Tsanidis up to 66kg. After 2 ½ even minutes, Lucas managed a waza-ari for a counterattack. Lucas had to defend his lead in the last minute and under great pressure he managed an excellent seoinage on the left, giving BCK a 4-0 lead with his early win.
Arnold Resch fought the next fight up to 100kg against Georgios Aslanidis. After initial chances, Arnold went behind with Waza-ari for Seoi-nage. In order to turn the fight around, Arnold had to risk more and ran into a remarkable soto-maki-komi from his opponent, who made the connection 1:4.
Up to 73kg, 16-year-old Julian Mandel competed against 22-year-old Georgian Gocha Kveladze, who had flown in himself. After one minute of fighting both fighters already had two penalties and could not afford any more. Julian gained the upper hand more and more in the course of the fight and after 3 minutes of fighting he was able to impose the decisive third penalty on his opponent and make it 5:1 for BCK.
The last fight of the first round was made by 15-year-old Joris Schleer up to 60kg against Benedikt Morkus. Joris, who competes in the under-18s up to 55kg, was physically inferior, but he compensated for this with enormous willingness to fight for a long time. After a great fight, however, he was disqualified with 3 penalties and Ingolstadt came up to 2:5.
In the second round it started again in the weight class up to 81 kg. Julian Izsak met Valentin Larasser. Both judoka were internationally successful youth fighters about 10 years ago and fought a gripping duel on an equal footing. Neither fighter had a penalty until 3 seconds before the end, but then the Ingolstadt native managed a waza-ari for Ouchi-gari, reducing the lead for BCK to 5:3.
In the following fight, Wayan de Vries fought Nikos Moulatze. Both fighters went into the duel offensively and Wayan managed an ippon for a textbook-like ouchi-gari after just 30 seconds. That was the 6:3 for BCK.
In the tenth duel of the evening there was a repeat of the heavyweight fight between Vladimir Gajic and Christopher Vance. Also in this fight not throws decided, but penalties, and so Vladimir won after the 3rd penalty of his opponent and took the seventh point for the BCK.
Lucas Mayer met Jannik Morkus up to 66kg. After about a minute, the Ingolstadt player took the lead through Waza-ari, which Lucas couldn’t equalize. After regular fighting time it was only 7:4 for BCK.
Then the advanced Philipp Koch met Matthias Werner up to 100kg. After 2 ½ balanced minutes, the Ingolstadt native was able to score a waza-ari for ura-nage (counterattack) and save this lead over time.
Up to 73kg, 17-year-old Maxim Malsch had to win his fight against Konstantin Weinmann with a score of 7:5 in order to save BCK’s home win. After a dominant performance with waza-ari for kouchi-gari (inside sickle) and another waza-ari for kouchi-maki-komi, the fight was decided and the redeeming eighth point was scored for BCK.
The last fight was made by the 16-year-old homegrown Jannis Schwichtenberg, who unfortunately ran into a counterattack right at the beginning and lost the fight.
BCK thus won its first team match of the 2022 season 8:6. In addition to the great performances and – despite Corona requirements – the great atmosphere, it was particularly important to emphasize that 7 of the 14 fighters (Daniel, Lucas 2x, Julian, Joris, Maxim, Jannis) came from their own offspring and contributed these 4 points to the overall victory . Good job!
Text: Heiko Mandel
Photos: Volker Kaiser
