Matthias Schlitte gets 7th in Italy

For the first time in 2014 the international armwrestling elite met at the competition table. At the weekend the best armwrestlers fought in the Italian city of Brescia at the International SuperMatch de Italia. In the 9th edition of this tournament was for the first time an athlete from Saxony- Anhalt fighting .
In the category up to 75kg Matthias Schlitte went to the start . Despite a not perfect preparation Schlitte had a good start to the tournament, defeating the multiple French champion Josef Lovei and the Italian Champion Placido Giocio as well . However, the man from Bebertal needed due to fouls, a protest and restart 5 attempts for two wins. The long battles did cost the total energy of the German, so Schlitte could not afford much resistance against the finalists Antonio Grimaldi and Ivan Virlan . At the end Schlitte was ranked 7 out of 26 starters.
“The draw was really brutal. Versus Lovei I had to fight three times in a very short time at the start for one victory. After that the match with Giocio gave me the rest. With the struggles I am quite satisfied , but a seventh place for me as Vice World Champion of course is a setback” said Schlitte, who had his 10th anniversary in the sport this month.
The Hellboy will return to training after a break. Together with coach Olaf Köppen he prepares for the German Championships on the 5th of April 2014 in Frankfurt ( Oder). Here Schlitte is expected to go back to the ancestral class up to 70kg.