A huge cry of freedom, a deafening cry to exorcise the present. Austria and Germany have said enough; enough of sadness and desolation. The day before the International Judo Federation announced the return of the World Judo Tour, the two countries celebrated the resurgence of our sport with a training camp and a friendly tournament, a team match, a fully-fledged ippon against the coronavirus.
Austria team, courtesy from "Judo Austria/Schoen"

Sabrina Filzmoser tells us the story. The Austrian was there and participated, even getting injured. These are her words.

“All went well here, Austria’s training camp together with Germany has been an awesome opportunity for everybody to get back to a somewhat ‘normal’ rhythm, with testing, following prepared protocols and rules.

We feel really lucky and privileged to get such an opportunity, while others around the world are struggling to even get back on to the tatami.

The friendly competition between Austria and Germany has been well organised and Austrian TV ensured it was a high quality project.

Germany team, courtesy from "Judo Austria/Schoen"

While there had been many injuries just before, also many of us had not had the best possibilities to get into a high level competition mode, as we would have wished to, because we‘ve had three positive Covid cases just one week before, followed by a strict quarantine. There was a huge chance of cancellation, but our federation and the new president, Martin Poiger, gave all of their possible effort and energy!

Austria-Germany friendly tournament, courtesy from "Judo Austria/Schoen"

Somehow everything went well and we managed to make the competition happen. Massive thanks to our German neighbors for coming over during this challenging time. They were awesome and also really eager to fight the first match and to train with a foreign country, after 6 months in off-mode.

The young guns gave everything in this competition, so there were a lot of nice surprises. We lost 5:7, but the result didn’t show how happy everybody felt to be able to fight for real.

JUDO IS BACK! That’s what really counts. Friendship is more than a thousand words can tell you, in this case!”

Photos: Austrian Judo Federation

See also
Judo Education
JUDO4LLC: Strengthening Communities Through Lifelong Learning

04. Aug. 2026 / Judo has always been more than a sport.

Central American & Caribbean Games
Cuba Tops the Medal Table as Venezuela Shines in Santo Domingo

04. Aug. 2026 / The judo competition at the XXV Central American and ...

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the Third Day - Women

02. Aug. 2026 / -78 kg: Reid Does the Double!

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the Third Day - Men

02. Aug. 2026 / -100 kg: Kyle Reyes is a Class Act!

Commonwealth Games 2026
British Family Connections on the Podium

02. Aug. 2026 / Unlike the Olympic Games where entries represent single ...

Athlete Stories
Malaysia’s History-Maker

02. Aug. 2026 / Amir Daniel Bin Abdul Majeed (MAS) is just 22 but he ...

Judo for Children
Teddy Riner Brings Inspiration to Egypt's Beaches

02. Aug. 2026 / For the second consecutive year, the Egyptian Judo ...

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the Second Day - Men

01. Aug. 2026 / -73 kg: Nairne Takes Title in Front of Royal Family

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the Second Day - Women

01. Aug. 2026 / -63 kg: Canadian Claims Crown

Commonwealth Games 2026
Cyprus Came to Glasgow Prepared

01. Aug. 2026 / On day one of the Commonwealth Games judo event, the ...

Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Sport and the IJF Celebrate Shared Values

01. Aug. 2026 / The 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was never supposed ...

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the First Day - Men

31. Jul. 2026 / -60 kg: Harsh Singh Delivers a Dynamic Blow to the ...

Commonwealth Games 2026
Results From the First Day - Women

31. Jul. 2026 / -48 kg: Asmita Dey (IND) is the New Commonwealth Champion

INTERVIEW EXPRESS
Shishime Ai (JPN)

08. Jun. 2018 / The next reigning world champion to be invited to answer ...

News
5 Key Takeaways from judo’s first Tokyo 2020 qualifier

06. Jun. 2018 / Highlights from Hohhot Grand Prix 2018

VIDEO
Judo for the World in Iran

07. Jun. 2018 / In April 2018, the International Judo Federation and ...

Meeting
JUDO: A Beneficial Cause

07. Jun. 2018 / 'Society should believe in sport as a beneficial cause ...