Remscheid. The Bottrop Pirates achieved a well-deserved 7:7 on Remscheider TV and overtook Sport-Union Annen in the final table.

The judoka from JC 66 Bottrop ended the Bundesliga season with a remarkable success. The “Pirates” fought to a 7:7 (70:64) on Remscheider TV on Saturday. Positive side effect: In the final spurt, the Bottrop team moved ahead of Sport-Union Witten-Annen into fifth place in the table.

“Of course we were particularly pleased about that,” admitted Markus Wallerich. The JC coach saw a good Bottrop team in Remscheid that, in his opinion, was “significantly closer to a win than a defeat. And that even though we were still 3:4 behind at the break.” Wallerich identified key duels in both periods.

“In the first round we had a bit of bad luck in the up to 60 kg class, in the second round we might have had more in the up to 73 kg weight class.” However, lightweight Eugen Müller lost to Luke Cabecana a second before the second fight of the day End of regular fighting time. “That was bitter, of course,” Wallerich summed up. “In the end, Eugen had risked a little too much. If he had made it into the Golden Score, his fitness would probably have been enough to win.”

Snippe, Isaev and Enrico Bergamelli win twice

Previously, the Dutchman Jelle Snippe made it 1-0 for Bottrop – Snippe once again proved to be a point guarantee for the Pirates and won both fights in the heavyweight class over 100 kg. Hamsat Isaev and the Italian Enrico Bergamelli, who also impressed in his second appearance for the 66ers and made it 3-4, were also held harmless.

Meanwhile, Ilyas Vinayev and Nikita Djadin suffered defeats in their fights. Tom Droste was also left behind in the class up to 90 kg, but faced a very strong opponent in Alexander Wieczerzak. “Tom competed against the 2017 world champion, who is one of the top international players,” said Wallerich, “and in my opinion, Tom achieved an Ippon, but only received a technical rating.” In the end, the former world champion turned the fight around and won for Remscheid . “Maybe that was a bit of a world championship bonus,” Wallerich smiled.

In the rematches, JC 66’s tactics largely worked: with three wins in a row, Bottrop moved up to 6:4. In addition to Snippe, Nicolas Kutscher and Tornike Tsjakadoea also remained successful. With the score at 7:6 for Bottrop, Oleg Gusev once again had a great chance to secure victory for the Pirates in the last fight, but he narrowly lost out against Wieczerzak.

But the impressions still ensured satisfaction, as Wallerich found. “We fought against an opponent who had set himself the goal before the season of reaching the final round of the German championship. Given this, we can absolutely agree with the result.”

Further reports from Bottrop sports

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