Pictured: Germany’s Julia Dorny (blue) faced Northern Ireland’s Leah McCourt (red) in the finals of 2016 IMMAF World Championships At the 2016 IMMAF European Open Championships, Germany will have it’s greatest opportunity to secure a first IMMAF Gold medal since the 2014 triumph of World Strawweight Champion, Daniela Kortmann. The German MMA Federation (GEMMAF) has registered a team of five athletes who will make their way to Prague, led by German standout Julia Dorny who will enter as the no.1 seed in the Women’s Featherweight bracket. In 2015 Dorny secured Bronze at both the World Championships and European Open before rising to further prominence as World Silver medallist this year in Las Vegas. Dorny’s impressive form en route to the 2016 World Championship Finals earned her the position of becoming the no.2 ranked competitor at 145lbs under the official IMMAF international competitor rankings. Dorny’s vast experience in martial arts stretches far beyond MMA, and since competing in Las Vegas, the veteran Judo black belt has been dominant in Germany’s national Judo circuit with multiple championship wins en route to qualifying once again for the German Judo Nationals. In addition, Dorny also claimed Bronze at the 2016 World Sumo Championships in Mongolia. Also returning to IMMAF competition with the German national amateur team are Dominik Kruger (Welterweight) and Patrick Drescher (Light-Heavyweight), who will be joined by team newcomers Pascal Hintzen (Men’s Lightweight) and Sebastian Otto (Middleweight). Hintzen came out on top as the GEMMAF National Lightweight Champion earlier this year, and 33-year-old Otto will be one to watch as an experienced Olympic wrestling coach. The 2016 IMMAF European Open Championships will play out over 5 days from 22 to 26 November at the Arena of Sparta in Prague, Czech Republic, and marks IMMAF’s second European Open event with over 170 athletes from 30 nations registered to compete. BUY TICKETS: http://bit.ly/2fbYaJE By IMMAF.org lead writer and website manager, Jorden Curran]]>
