Karate Mühlbach wins club championship

The Inter-Federation Karate Club Championship took place in Ferrara at the weekend. Five athletes from Karate Mühlbach took part as part of “Team Iwao Yoshioka” and won four medals.

13 Maj 2024

From: pm

Laura Peintner (juniors, green and blue belts, -58kg) and Fabian Pezzei (seniors, brown and black belts, -80kg), who won the top spot on the podium, were in a class of their own. Lorenz Mantinger (juniors, green and blue belts, -68kg) won silver; Bronze went to Madleen Unterhuber (candidate, green and blue belts, -47kg). Florian Filehner (seniors, brown and black belts, -74kg) had to settle for 5th place.

Grand Champion
In addition to the competitions in the various categories, there was an additional competition for which all those athletes who came first or second in their respective category of the senior age group, i.e. from 18 years of age, qualified. In this additional competition, Fabian Pezzei was able to assert himself and win the title “Grand Champion” thanks to his outstanding performances.

Team “Iwao Yoshioka”
“United in diversity” was the motto of this karate tournament, which was open to athletes from different federations. “United in diversity” can also be seen as a headline about the newly founded team “Iwao Yoshioka”: In memory of this karate grandmaster, karate schools that were influenced by him have come together to compete together in this tournament. “Winning the overall ranking was a special moment of joy, but so was the unity and conviction to continue Iwao Yoshioka’s legacy,” said coach Martin Pezzei.

About the person: Iwao Yoshioka
The Japanese Iwao Yoshioka (1946 - 2023) became karate world champion in 1969 and subsequently came to Italy to spread karate. In Italy he met his wife Antonietta, who gave him two children, Yoshitaka and Kumi.
In addition to his work as coach of the national team in Italy, Iwao Yoshioka gathered like-minded people around him in Rome - including Gianni Del Nero, the father of Stefano Del Nero, who became Martin Pezzei's coach. Today, Karate Mühlbach stands in the “karate lineage” of Iwao Yoshioka, whose legacy is continued by his son, Yoshitaka Yoshioka.