Wrestling, NLA team championship: Schattdorf – Einsiedeln 12:23
The Einsiedeln wrestling team got both points from bottom team Schattdorf and thus took an important step towards the playoffs.
If Einsiedeln defeats bottom team Schattdorf, you can actually speak of a befitting victory. But it was far from being like that. The result was closer than in the preliminary round comparison. Nevertheless, Einsiedeln left the mat with a 23:12 victory. With the change in styles per weight class in the second half of the season, there were some question marks for both teams. Einsiedeln also had to make changes because Jan Walker and Andreas Burkard were not ready for action. After the disappointing performance against Freiamt, Einsiedeln showed its best side despite these adversities.
Successful start
As is usually the case this season, the Hermits were in the lead with a good start. In the lightweight division, Oleksandr Golin was able to extend his winning streak. After being 0:3 behind against Lion Husmann, he won 19:3 with a series of floor rollers. Sven Neyer really had to struggle against Christoph Waser in the highest weight class. However, he was able to make up for the weight handicap of 20 kilograms with his experience and had the upper hand with a score of 4:1. People were excited about the duel between River Perlungher and the international Thomas Epp. The favorite from Uri had a harder time than expected as Perlungher blocked his attacks time and time again. The fight ended 5-0 in favor of Uri. Damian von Euw showed off his great technical skills against Flavio Herger right from the start with spectacular throws. In the second round he outscored his stubborn opponent and got the most out of Einsiedeln. Sven Gamma and Lars Neyer fought an exciting duel. After Neyer was down 0-1 in the first round, he was able to turn the tide 4-1 with clever tactics and book two more valuable team points. At the break, Einsiedeln was in the lead with 12:6.
Einsiedeln remained constant. Then Yves Neyer, who was moved up a weight class due to the absence of Andreas Burkard, was faced with a difficult task against the former squad wrestler Nicolas Christen. He took a 1-0 lead and largely controlled the action before his opponent equalized shortly before time expired to make the final score 3-3. Because the man from Uri scored last, the victory went to his account. Things got straight to the point between Lars Neyer and Aaron Zberg. After Neyer failed in a Brienzer attack on the edge of the mat, he was unable to completely make up for the deficit and lost 4:6. In the last three fights, the Uri team seemed to have a slight advantage on paper. But the hermits were surprised. The technically versatile and agile Jan Faller and Yannick Epp worked on all possible technical variants in this high-profile fight. As time went on, Faller got better and better control of his opponent and won 6:1. But the people of Uri didn’t let their heads down because of it. Sulayman Quraishi and Benjamin Gander literally pulled the 300 spectators out of their seats with their spectacular throws. The Uri native dominated the action for the time being and led 5-0 at halftime. But the hermit put everything on one card, diligently collected points with four points and was suddenly in the lead. Although Gander was able to equalize at 9:9, Quraishi emerged as the winner thanks to his higher scores. At the end, Kay Neyer put the dot on the “i”. With his constantly clean attacks against Lars Epp, he soon had the points for his superior victory (16:0).
“We won, we have two points, that’s all that counts and was important after the unpleasant performance a week ago,” said Einsiedeln’s coach Urs Bürgler happily. For him, the fighting performance and solidarity were the key to the positive outcome. The team was able to show the positive side and got two important points on the way to the playoffs. Einsiedeln had a clear lead at times, so the victory was certain with two fights to go. However, the wrestlers had to be on their guard and work hard to win, which was reflected in the close results of some of the duels.
Einsiedeln 2 with bad luck Einsiedeln’s second team played in Buch am Irchel in Zurich. Not everything went as she wanted and more was needed. At the start, the team clearly defeated host Winterthur with 17:7. This resulted in revenge for the preliminary round defeat. This victory should have given the wrestlers a lot of confidence, but that wasn’t the case. It suffered a defeat against Weinfelden with 12:16. At the end, Einsiedeln gave up the victory against Oberriet, which was within reach, and lost 16:17. This meant the team slipped to sixth place with one lap to go. Leader Willisau in Einsiedeln
Next Saturday evening, Einsiedeln will welcome current leader Willisau at home. The Lucerne team has been able to convincingly win all six fights so far and are therefore two points ahead of Kriessern. Einsiedeln can approach this duel carefree after gaining points and perhaps hope for one or two surprises. But the 15-time champion will not show any weakness in the monastery village.
Einsiedeln 2 meets the host team, Tuggen and Schattdorf in Oberriet and hopes to win points. See results.
Aaron Zberg (left) and Kay Neyer were chosen by a jury of experts as the best wrestlers on their team.
