Korrel adds another feather to his cap with European win

Michael Korrel of the Netherlands is a World bronze medalist and a six-time IJF World Tour gold medallist. Now, he is a European Champion as well having won the gold medal in Sofia recently.

One of the world’s best drop seoi-nage specialists is Canada’s Jessica Klimkait, who relies heavily on this technique. Well, Korrel is fast developing a reputation as a drop seoi specialist too. In Sofia, he won all his matches except the final with variations of drop seoi-nage.

Korrel won his first match, against Falk Petersilka of Germany, with a right drop seoi-nage done off a lapel grip. Then, he proceeded to throw veteran campaigner Elmar Gasimov of Azerbaijan with exactly the same throw.

That brought him up against his compatriot, Simeon Catharina, who surely is very familiar with Korrel’s favorite technique. Yet, he couldn’t stop it from happening, twice. The first one was a drop seoi-nage to the right, done off a sleeve grip. As if to demonstrate his versatility, Korrel threw him again, with the exact same technique, except this time it was done to the left.

That win took him into the final where he had an unexpectedly difficult time with Piotr Kuczera of Poland, a surprise finalist. This time, it wasn’t a drop seoi that won him the match but an ura-nage counter done when the Pole tried to throw him with osoto-gari.

With his superb win in Sofia, Korrel has now established himself as one of the top fighters in the world. This win is sure to please his former coach Theo Meijer, who himself was a European champion at U95kg (he was, in fact, the first Dutchman in that weight class to win this European title in 1991).