Wermelskirchen Judo Club
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A shoulder throw to the title
Wermelskirchen/Remscheid Carolin Scheida (15) is the German U18 champion in judo in the class up to 40 kilos. How the Remscheiderin defeated her heavier opponents.
Being underweight by several kilograms in the weight class up to 40 kilograms did not prevent Carolin Scheida from being crowned German champion of the under 18-year-old judokas after three fights against partly older, heavier and physically superior opponents.
The 15-year-old from the Wermelskirchen Judo Club (JCWK), who is trained by long-time trainer Lutz Hartmann and now also by her father Kaweh Scheida, had not expected her performance herself: “At first I thought: the main thing is to win a fight. I was then surprised and couldn’t believe that I became German champion,” says Carolin, describing her feelings. The triumph was made possible by the club and her friends, whom Carolin thanks for their support.
At the U18 title fights in Leipzig at the weekend, around 200 male and almost as many female young athletes competed against each other in nine weight classes. For the JCWK, Luke Cabecana was also there for the boys, who was weakened by illness but did not have a good competition in the weight class up to 55 kg. Carolin Scheida from Remscheid did all the better in the class of ultra-lightweight judokas up to 40 kilos.
“There are weight classes from 40 to 78 kilos plus, but most fight in the classes from 52 to 63 kilograms,” says JCWK trainer Sven Dicke. Of course, that shouldn’t detract from Carolin’s performance in her rather sparsely occupied class. After all, the 15-year-old still had to assert herself against strong competition. “On the day of the competition I weighed 36 kilos, my opponent 40.9. You could feel it in terms of strength,” she says.
Said second day’s fight against a woman from Gelsenkirchen demanded everything from Carolin. After she was able to win the first fight against the Central German champion after just a few seconds by point victory, the second was, according to her own statement, the hardest. After the regular four minutes of fighting, both judokas had collected two penalties, i.e. a tie. Carolin fought against exhaustion and was lucky: her opponent made too many arrangements with her trainer and received the third penalty point – victory for Carolin.
Against a physically strong opponent from Bavaria, the 15-year-old also had to accept two penalty points before she also managed to turn the tide to victory with two shoulder throws in a row. She didn’t have any special tactics, says Carolin: “Of course you look at your opponent and you know that you have to attack differently if he’s left-handed. But you do a lot of things spontaneously.”
In the end, there is not enough strength for extensive celebrations. After the long weekend and the five-hour drive back to Remscheid, she was simply exhausted, says Carolin. After winning the state championships in September and now the national title, things are going like clockwork for them. In October there is another tournament in Frankfurt, which is even international.