According to a press release by AIBA, AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships is three days down. The event is the first global boxing event to take place in Poland.
The competition has featured bouts in almost all of the weight categories, with three women and two men divisions as exceptions. Boxers in the men’s flyweight (52kg), women’s bantamweight (54kg), women’s featherweight (57kg) and women’s lightweight (60kg) sailed already to the quarter-finals.
A total of 121 bouts were contested during the first three competition days at Kielce. Altogether 414 boxers including 140 women and 270 men hailing from 52 different nations are attending the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. 293 are still in contention, determined to make it to the podium.
Uzbekistan displayed perfect performances on the first 3 days
The Uzbeks came with 18 boxers to the event and all of them have strong medal expectations. The Uzbek head coach Hamid Tangribergenov picked strong women and men sides, following the sparring events in Yangiabad.
The Uzbek boxers bagged many medals at the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships and also the Ulaanbaatar 2019 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships. Their brilliant run continued in Kielce. All of them knocked out tough rivals and made their nation proud but their main mission is not accomplished yet.
Cuba’s welterweight (69kg) boxer Dany Lafos had two sensational contests
The Cuban youth squad contested last time at the Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament in Russia in 2019. The Cubans resumed to the international arena in Kielce and their Dany Lafos gave the fans a treat in the preliminary rounds. The boxer had a thrilling battle against Mexico’s Marco Verde in the welterweight (69kg) division, but he won with impressive stamina on Day 1. His next game was also a scintillating one, clashing against Czech Republic’s Milos Beranek.
Uktamova vs. Khanam – The highlight of the third day
The third day of the competition featured 52 preliminary contests and including, Uzbekistan’s Nigina Uktamova and India’s Arshi Khanam who made the bout of the session. Nigina Uktamova, the defending ASBC Asian Women’s Junior Champion and her counterpart, India’s Arshi Khanam hit dozens of punches within nine minutes in the bantamweight (54kg). The unbeaten Uzbek girl looked in sensational momentum, especially from the second round and knocked out the tough Khanam.
Jordan’s KO amazing success
Over 85% of the contests have been determined by points in the initial 3 days but by the end of Day 3, one of Asia’s highly talented boxers knocked out his opponent. Anas Alsadi from Jordan was hot favorite against UAE's Hyadra Nehayan in the light welterweight (64kg) prior to the game, but the KO was amazing in their meeting. Alsadi’s stunning right-hand hook got Nehayan perfectly and the Arabian boxer collapsed to the canvas. The referee announced the Jordanian’s KO success which was the maiden at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships.
Iceland's Debut
Iceland had never attended any of the past AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. However, this time one of their boxers was chosen to contest in this elite level of youth event. Emin Kadri Eminsson clinched the Boxam Junior Tournament held in Spain nearly three years ago and he landed in the city following a successful preparation. Iceland only has nearly 100 boxers on the island but he showcased their mettle and fighting skills in spite of his close defeat to Ecuador’s Piero Prieto.
