After all, three adult judoka from the 1.JJJC Lünen started this year in the district individual championship of the “seniors” at the Lüner SV. We were particularly happy about the total of 52 participating judoka, as unfortunately such competitions could only rarely take place in the 2 years of the pandemic.
At the start, Miriam Sawallich fought in the women’s -63 kg. Since only three participants competed here, the system was “everyone against everyone”.
In the first encounter, Sawallich faced a similarly experienced competitor. The fight was evenly balanced until Sawallich won it with a well-placed combination of two throwing techniques. In the subsequent fight against a woman from Dortmund, Sawallich followed up with a hold after a partially successful throwing technique and thus secured first place.
In the men’s category, Thomas Pototzky stepped onto the mat in the well-stocked -73 kg weight class. In the first fight he met an experienced competitor from Dortmund, who defeated him prematurely with a throw followed by a hold. Pototzky didn’t let that deter him and turned the tide in the next fight. This time he skilfully took advantage of an opponent’s careless moment to throw him, leaving the mat as the winner. In the encounter that followed, he met an opponent with very similar combat experience, so the fight was balanced for a long time. The young Lüner started several good throws, but was unable to score. Unfortunately, he accumulated multiple penalties by leaving the contest area, ultimately losing as a result.
Timo Debelius only had one opponent in the weight class over 90 kg, which is why the fight was based on the “best-of-three” system. Debelius was very concentrated here and was able to win the first fight by using an opponent’s attack for a counterattack. After that he continued to fight carefully and did not let himself be thrown by his opponent. In the end he won this fight with several throwing techniques, so that he could be happy about the place at the top of the podium.
“It was a nice district tournament, in which hopefully more of us will take part next year,” was the conclusion of the trainer.
