KSV Ispringen is the name of the German Champion 2018 and the winner of the premier season of the German Wrestling League! Thanks to their six individual wins the VfK Schifferstadt scored exactly 12:10 points and for the first time in club history won the title of German Champion.

The Wilfried Dietrich-Halle in Schifferstadt was packed to the rafters and the atmosphere at boiling point as it was about to be decided who will be German Champion and win the first title in the GWL history.

It was an evening nobody will forget in a hurry…awesome atmosphere, a frenetic audience, great fights and two teams who were equally hungry for the title. For Ispringen it meant to close the two point backlog from the first leg of the finals. The first fight gave a taste of this: Roman Amoyan brought the first win home, beating Nugsari Tsutusurmia 4:1. The next win for Ispringen was scored by Georgi Ketoev who beat the slightly off balance Schifferstadter Daniel Ligeti 7:0.

Maxim Perpelita and Maxim Sacultan delivered a classy fight, exciting to the last second in the 66kilo-Freestyle-Class however, Perpelita could not finish the winning hold which is why the 2:4 win went to KSV Ispringen. In a clash which brought many to the edge of their seats, Georgi Melia lost his second final-fight to Ardo Arusaar with 2:1. Emotions ran high!

Levani Kavjaradze was finally able to secure the win so long awaited by the fans. He beat Tonimir Sokol 10:5. Annoyingly for the VfK though, Sokol scored to 0:2 team points seconds before the round finish, so it was 6:2 for the host at break time.

When Mamuka Kordzaia was leading 1:0 against Yuri Belonovski at half time hope surged in the crowd, the atmosphere was electric, however Belonovski was able to move things up a gear in the second half by forcing his opponent into the down position three times and won 6:1 in the end. After Israil Kasumov decided his fight against Lasha Tashkaladze on technical points winning a full score only a miracle could now help Schifferstadt.

The first spark of hope was provided by Lasha Gobadze who impressively beat Neven Zugaj 12:0. Only seven points lead now for the host…was it possible for Schifferstadt?

Manukahar Tskadaia (Schifferstadt) vs Igor Besleaga (Ispringen) in 75 Greco was the second to last fight of the evening. Everyone new this could already be the decision maker. When Besleaga seemed to lie on his shoulder Schifferstadt requested the video proof. The judges viewed the scene thoroughly but only awarded a two to Schifferstadt. This score tipped the balance to the 1:0 result for VfK in this fight. But Ispringen did not care much as this win already meant they were German Champion! A draw after two fights meant that the individual wins were the deciding factor and they were already in Ispringen’s favor before the last fight.

After Patrick Dublinovski showed his class once again in the last fight of the season against Carsten Kopp winning 15:0 the final score was 10:12

KSV Ispringen is the new German Champion!