Brandenburg: Germany’s Sumo Hotspot

“However, most people are thrilled that I do such an atypical sport and represent the Lusatia far beyond the region,” reports Fiedler with a happy laugh and also a little proud in the voice. The Spremberger is a sumotori – and belongs to Germany’s best sumo fighters, the form of the ring fight from Japan.

In addition to PSG Dynamo Brandenburg, KSC Asahi Spremberg has been in the sumo in addition to the PSG Dynamo Brandenburg. And in the mark, the heart beats in sumo sport for all of Germany.

Eight of the ten nominated German athletes come from Brandenburg for the World Cup. In addition to Fiedler, who will start both in the U18 age group and the women at the World Cup, the Rosalie Büttner and Phumpaya Mazur (both Spremberg), Finnley Kriegel, Miro Broswitz and Thomas Kriegel (all SV Motor Babelsberg) as well as Alexander Jack and Marie-Luis Zuckschwerdt (both PSG Dynamo Brandenburg).

“Sumo is not operated anywhere in Brandenburg as intensely in Brandenburg,” says Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt. The 50-year-old, in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic participant in judo, brought Sumo to Germany at the end of the nineties and in the years after that, with her success, caused a real hype about the Japanese national sports, which is surrounded by many myths and even more traditions.

Seven World Cup and European Championship titles as well as gold at the World Games – the “Olympics” for non -Olympic sports – are in their vita. Today she is a national coach and president of the German Sumo Association and thus continues to engine for a niche sport.

There are no official figures from the German Olympic Sports Bund (DOSB) to Sumo in Germany. In Brandenburg, however, the Japanese wrestling struggle has established itself and is currently operated by 306 athletes in six clubs. A good half of them belong to the PSG Dynamo Brandenburg – the association, where everything started with Sandra Köppen -Zuckschwerdt and her trainer and husband Wolfgang Zuckschwerdt.

Sumo has been fighting in Spremberg since the beginning of 2020, around 30 members counts the department of coach Phumpanya Mazur, who himself is also at the start of the World Cup. “Yes, we are a small association. We started with Sumo from books and videos, but we have worked completely in the past few years – such successes hardly had any other sport,” says Sandra Köppen -Zuckschwerdt. After the World Games 2020, a rejuvenation process in the national team used. At the World Cup in Bangkok, the time is now ripe again to win medals.

“We are going to Bangkok with a well-prepared and highly motivated team. The athletes have worked hard in the past few months and earn this opportunity. We not only want to take part but actively intervene in the action,” said national coach Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt.

Especially in the youth area, it is important to confirm the high level of previous years and to gain experience for the further international path. “I hope and pray for a medal in the youth area,” says Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt. Lucie Fiedler could take care of them, who took fifth place in the previous year and missed precious metal. “Lucie has a good chance with the girls when she is in a good mood. I trust her a medal,” says the national coach.

Curious: Lucie Fiedler has to lose weight for her medal dream in the U18 – in contrast to the professional sumo fighters in Japan, there is also weight classes in international competition sports such as in wrestling or judo. “It is a cliché that only fats are fighting. Many people always think that two puddings run together. But that’s not the case. I have people here who have to gain weight. And I have people here who have to lose weight,” explains Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt.

Lucie Fiedler belongs in the second category. The Spremberger starts in the U18 in the limit up to 60 kg. “We made the decision three months ago. After that, I changed my diet and trained more,” says Fiedler, who has lost almost five kilograms since then. She also worked intensively on the speed at the start. “After I missed bronze so just in the previous year, I would like to win a medal this year – at least bronze,” says Lucie Fiedler, who came to sports years ago through a Sumo trial day in Spremberg.

The Brandenburg tour group, reinforced by Johanna Rabl (JC Ueckermünde) and Lorenz Moor (Kik Berlin), flew to Bangkok on Monday. After weighing on Thursday and Friday, the Sumo wrestlers await unusual conditions in addition to mulch-warm temperatures and a foreign culture in the Nantanakarn Building at Rangsit University.

While trains on mats in Brandenburg like the judo at home, the 4.55 meter tall ring (Dohyo) is stamped out of straw and clay for the World Cup. “This will be a shock therapy for many of our young people. The floor is a stick hard – like concrete,” warns Sandra Köppen -Zuckschwerdt. It is therefore advisable to stay on your feet. In any case, the fights that usually only last a few seconds have lost who leaves the Dohyo or touches the floor with a part of the body other than the soles of the feet.

In addition to a successful World Cup in Bangkok, Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt and Lucie Fiedler also have a second common wish: that their sport will eventually become Olympic. “Yes, of course, as a competitive athlete, I have the dream of being at the Olympic Games,” says Fiedler. The first steps are taken, such as gender equality at the World Cup or the introduction of weight classes. “But of course we still need a much larger width for sport, not just in Germany,” says Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt.

The next goal is to be in the program again in 2029 at the World Games in Karlsruhe. Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt works for this and for her athletes every day. “The nice thing is that we can all do sports together at the Sumo. As long as I feel that I am needed, I continue. I love this sport.”

Video: RBB24 Brandenburg Aktuell, 07.09.2025, 7:30 p.m.