A first real assessment of the situation awaits the wrestlers of SV Wacker Burghausen on the public holiday, October 3rd, at 3 p.m., when SV Germania Weingarten presents itself in the Bundesliga South. On Saturday, October 5th, at 7:30 p.m., SVW coach Eugen Ponomarchuk’s protégés will play their first away match of the season at KG Baienfurt/Ravensburg.
It has been eleven years since Weingarten last played a Bundesliga match against Burghausen. A lot has happened since then. The Salzach team was relegated to the 2nd league, then promoted again and has celebrated five titles since then. The three-time German champion Weingarten also has had eventful years. After the last coup in 2016, Germania was one of the “renegade” teams that wanted to break away from the German Wrestling Federation by founding the DRL. Since the end of the DRL, the club from Baden-Württemberg has worked consistently towards promotion back to the upper house, which they also achieved last season.
“Weingarten is an absolute asset to the Bundesliga. From 2009 to 2016 they reached the final seven times and celebrated three titles. I’m pleased that the team around head coach Frank Heinzelbecker is now first class again. In any case, the spectators can look forward to a great fight. We have never been able to beat Weingarten and they are definitely our toughest opponents so far,” says Wacker’s sporting director Matthias Maasch about the guests, who have many national and international top talent in their ranks. The impressive number of nine new additions confirms the statements made by the Germania club officials, who set reaching the finals as their goal.
In an exciting comparison, Horst Lehr is firmly expected among the guests in the limit of up to 61 kg. The 2021 World Cup third-place finisher will be opposed by either four-time European champion Arsen Harutyunyan or Olympic third-place finisher Gulomjon Abdullaev. In the Greco heavyweight division, Burghausen’s Norwegian Felix Baldauf would have to make up for a weight disadvantage of around 30 kilos against the Cuban Oscar Pino Hinds. Up to 66 kg in Greco-Roman style, SVG’s own son and trainer’s son Janis Heinzelbecker was the last to take to the mat. He could meet Wacker’s new Kazakh signing Yernar Fidakhmetov. Olympian Erik Thiele (98 kg freestyle) was supposed to face Belarusian Aleksandr Hushtyn, fifth in this year’s European Championships. Magomed Kartojev has always been able to impress in the freestyle up to 71 kg. Will he also be able to do that against Marcel Wagin, whom Weingarten took away from runner-up SC Siegfried Kleinostheim?
After the break, Roland Schwarz will probably cross swords with the 38-year-old veteran Jan Fischer in the classics up to 86 kg. Up to 75 kg Greco there could be a generational duel if Ionut Panait starts again for Weingarten. The 43-year-old Romanian is opposed by Bashir Kartojev, who is only 19 years old. In the following two freestyle duels, the Burghausen team are without exception the favorites. Newcomer David Baev (up to 80 kg), world champion from 2019, meets a 19-year-old young talent in Jeremy Weinhold, the Olympic bronze medalist Chermen Valiev (up to 75 kg) fights with Manuel Wagin, who, as the reigning U17 vice world champion, is one of the greatest freestyle talents in Germany. Finally, the host up to 80 kg Greco has the former U23 world champion Idris Ibaev. Weingarten can rely on the Kazakh Tamerlan Shadukayev, 2020 Asian champion, or the newly crowned Olympic champion Nao Kusaka from Japan.
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