Judoka Shamil Borchashvili got off to a picture-perfect start in the two-year Olympic qualification: The top-seeded Welser collected “Big Points” with second place at the Grand Slam in Mongolian Ulaanbaatar on the way to Paris 2024. After a bye and two wins, the third had to give up of the summer games in Tokyo only in the final defeated the Korean surprise man Lee Joonhwan. “It annoys me that I found my way into the fight too late against Lee,” the 27-year-old’s anger at the defeat initially outweighed. “On the other hand,” he added, “three years ago I started qualifying for the Olympics with zero points. Now I was seeded number one and took an important 350 points with me.” Borchashvili was the only ÖJV judoka in Mongolia due to a corona outbreak within the national team. Olympic silver medalist Michaela Polleres and Mühlviertler Daniel Allerstorfer had to pass.
The latter was happy with his UJZ Mühlviertel colleague Ronald Proell, who won one of three Austrian bronze medals at the U18 European Championships in Porec. Fingers crossed were, among others, Pepi Reiter and his wife Marianne in Croatia, who had accompanied the young Helfenberger for years. Reichramingerin Emily Starzer was fifth.
Source: Nachrichten
