Speyer. Despite adverse circumstances, the women of JSV Speyer surpassed themselves in the home match against TSG Backnang and forced the favorites to fight hard for the Bundesliga championship. TSG finally managed to do that, absolutely as expected, they are already one day before the end of the fight and cannot be caught at the top of the table, but the JSVlerinnen were able to achieve their goal of making the fight open. The JSV was able to win five lone fighters – Backnang had lost just as many in the previous season. With a bit of luck there could have been even more, up to a sensational draw, says JSV team boss Barbara Bandel.
In this sense, the first fight started right away, because Jessica Lindner fought a hard-fought duel at eye level with the international top fighter Andrea Stojadinov from Serbia. The two fought for almost eight minutes without scoring. Then the big moment of shock: Lindner was thrown, landed unhappily on his elbow and suffered an obviously very painful injury. The woman from Speyer had to be brought off the mat on a stretcher by the paramedics. Further investigations will determine how serious the injury is. For the Speyer team and the audience it was a big shock at first, which pushed the sporty side into the background for a few minutes. Only after an interruption did the next fight continue. Darja Dorowskich also had to fight against an internationally experienced fighter, namely Pleuni Cornelisse from the Netherlands, and was beaten after two minutes. Dewi de Vries provided a first highlight from Speyer’s point of view in her first Bundesliga fight for JSV. She prevailed in extra time with a spectacular throw against Mirjam Wirth. However, the next three fights went to Backnang because Mona Kohlbacher gave up without a fight and Verena Thumm and Corinna Bayer had to admit defeat. As so often, Jasmin Grabowski proved to be the absolute banker in the last fight before the half-time break and reduced to 2:5 from Speyer’s point of view.
This deficit then grew directly, because after Jessica Lindner’s injury, Speyer could not muster an athlete in the weight class up to 48 kilograms and thus had to give up the first fight of the second round without a fight. After that, however, Seija Ballhaus made the Speyer fans cheer again with a lightning-fast victory, and Dewi de Vries crowned her perfect debut, in which she also won her second fight. The hostesses could have come even closer in the last fights, because Verena Thumm fought a closely fought duel with Annika Wuerfel for the second time, but had to admit defeat in the end, and Jill Trenz was countered by her opponent when trying to throw – that would be in been more in both cases. Only Jasmin Grabowski was able to get another point for Speyer with her second victory, but there was great satisfaction on the JSV side after the fight.
When we saw what a top-class squad Backnang had and it looked rather difficult for us in terms of personnel, that reinforced the clear outsider role even more. But we put in a very strong performance, starting with Jessica Lindner, who could have won her fight. Her injury came as a great shock to us and we can only hope it turns out to be as minor as possible. Verena Thumm could have won at least one of her fights and Jill Trenz’s fight was also on a knife’s edge. With a bit more luck it could have ended in a draw. Of course, the strong debut of Dewi de Vries, who has just recovered from a lengthy injury break, and Jasmin, who is an absolute bank, was really great. We’re happy every time she can fight for us, and we’re particularly happy that this is now possible more often than in the last few years,” says team boss Barbara Bandel.
Despite the defeat, the JSV is set as runner-up and can therefore look forward to the last day of the fight next Saturday without any pressure. It comes to the Palatinate-Baden derby against the neighbors from the other side of the Rhine, BC Karlsruhe – however neither in Karlsruhe nor in Speyer, but in Bottrop, because the two fights of the final day of fighting are combined into one event.
Looking a little further into the future, the JSV women are looking forward to the coming year, when the first and second federal leagues – and thus also the two Speyer national league teams – will be merged. The great solidarity between the two teams, which has grown over the course of the year and was noticeable in the fight against Backnang, also through the loud support on the edge of the mat, makes this development appear as a logical step and gives cause for optimism for the future of the JSV women’s team .
With a clear 10:4 home win against TSG Backnang, the men from JSV Speyer made an impressive comeback in the 1st Judo Bundesliga after suffering three defeats in a row. After a tight first round, the hosts dominated the second half of the match in front of an enthusiastic home crowd in Judomaxx.
Onise Bughadze ensured an optimal start from Speyer’s point of view with a quick win against Lorenz Moor. The second Georgian in the Speyer squad, Irakli Kupatadze, faced a tough challenge in the form of Hungary’s Csanád Feczkó. Without a rating in the regular fight time, it went to the Golden Score, where the Speyerer had to accept the decisive rating. The joy on the part of the guests did not last long, however, because a hat trick of fast and spectacular ippons followed by Speyer’s Patrick Schmidt, Philipp Müller and Yves Touna. At least now the audience in Judomaxx was completely enthusiastic and loudly made itself felt. But Backnang didn’t give up and got the next two fights – despite good performances, Franz Haettich and Till Braunbach could not prevent Speyer’s lead from 4:1 to 4:3.
The changes at half-time shook up the pairings, because while Speyer was content with the prescribed minimum of three new fighters, Backnang brought on five new players in the second round. The opening fight between Bughadze and Moor was the only pairing that was repeated in the second round – and the result was the same, namely a quick victory for the man from Speyer.
Kupatadze was then able to retaliate successfully – albeit against a different opponent. Andreas Benkert and Philipp Müller then extended the lead to such an extent that the victory of the JSV was also mathematically certain.
Luca Bößer then had to concede the point to the internationally successful Dutchman Yannick van der Kolk, but it should actually be the last fight that the JSV had to give up. Franz Haettich won confidently after just under a minute against Ben Rommel and at the end there was a real highlight with Martin Ludwig’s first fight won in the 1st Bundesliga – the veteran, who had often lost unluckily in the past after strong performances, managed this time to cleverly bring his lead over time to make the 10:4 final score.
“We achieved our goal: we wanted to win against Backnang and we did it – in the end clearly, after a close half-time score. Although we were a bit unlucky in the first round, because Irakli Kupatadze and Till Braunbach in particular had chances of winning their fights. But the second round was all the more sovereign. I was particularly happy about the victory of Martin Ludwig, who has always been there to step in when needed and has often been close to rewarding himself with a win. It finally worked today and that was the icing on the cake on this successful day,” said team manager Michael Görgen-Sprau.
With the victory, the Speyerers are almost certain of fourth place in the table. The fifth-placed, JC Rüsselsheim, could theoretically catch up with the JSV, but would have to win at the record champions and table leaders Abensberg. The season will end for the Speyerers with another home fight in the Judomaxx next Saturday. The current second in the table, JC Leipzig, will be a guest. ps
