Speyer / Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region – Last weekend, the Southwest German individual championships for the under-18 and under-21 age groups took place in Heusweiler, Saarland.
In the younger group, the only 14-year-old Alesia Büttner won first place in the class up to 57 kg and, as Southwest German Champion, qualifies for the German Championships, which will take place in Leipzig in two weeks (February 25th and 26th, 2023). She won all three of her fights early with full points. The woman from Speyer not only showed great throws, but also impressed with her physical superiority, especially in the semifinals, by challenging her strong Ukrainian competitor in such a way that she lost more and more in the course of the encounter and ultimately could not free herself from the hold of the Domstädter could.
At the age of 14, also in her first year in the U18s, Jihane Rahmoun (up to 63 kg) only lost in the final to her competitor from Fulda (Hesse), who was two years older than her, after strong resistance, and became Vice-Southwest German Champion. She also won all of her previous fights with great throws and full points. Against the background of an injury and the associated low training effort in the past few weeks, an outstanding performance.
For the boys under 18, Laurids Leupolt and Maximilian Dietrich started up to 66kg. Laurids got the better of himself and, as a bronze medalist, bought the ticket to his first German championship. Maximilian was a little unlucky, narrowly losing the battle for third place and, being fifth, failed to qualify for the Germans. Nonetheless, both fought a good tournament.
Due to illness, Lina Hartmann, Carolin Dietrich and Christopher Kappis could not compete.
The only representative of JSV Speyer in the under 21 age group was Samuel Mendel (up to 66kg). With two unchallenged early victories, he confidently won the title of Southwest German Champion and in three weeks at the German Championships (4th and 5th March 2023) under 21s in Frankfurt/Oder he definitely has a chance of a medal.
Philipp Kappis, who was also qualified, had to cancel his participation due to illness.
What: Volker Heyer
