The European Boxing Confederation has hosted the EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships and the EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships earlier this year. Their third continental event will be the EUBC Schoolboys & Schoolgirls European Boxing Championships that will take place in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina on August 10-21. 

Bosnia & Herzegovina capital hosted the 2001 edition of the European Junior Boxing Championships for 17 and 18-year-old boxers and after a 20 years break, one of the continental events is coming back to the country. Bosnia & Herzegovina hosts international boxing tournaments for elite and youth every year but this continental event will be the first for the schoolgirls and schoolboys.

The competition period is from 12 to 20 of August. The rest day is scheduled for August 18, the finals will take place on August 20. 

Boxers who were born in 2007 and 2008 can attend the Confederation’s event which could be a good starting point for schoolgirl’s and schoolboy’s career. The bouts will be held in the Sort Hall East Sarajevo where all Covid-19 safety measures will be provided during the whole event. 

Review of the last 2019 edition

The last edition of the EUBC European Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Boxing Championships was held in Tbilisi, Georgia in August 2019. The finals were divided into two competition days and 33 champions celebrated their titles in Georgia.

Armenia, Cyprus, England, host Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Ukraine won gold medals in the first part of the finals in Georgia’s capital but Scotland and Azerbaijan also joined these nations with one title in the final competitions day. Boxers who were born in 2005 and 2006 were eligible to attend the event in Tbilisi where 13 girls and 20 boys were crowned among 78 schoolgirls and 238 schoolboys who also participated the event. 

The following 30 nations took part in the EUBC European Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Boxing Championships in Tbilisi two years ago: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, host Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine. 

Among the schoolgirls, one of the best European prospects, Laila Abdullatif from Cyprus made a remarkable performance in Tbilisi at the age of 13. Cyprus had attended almost all of the EUBC Championships for a long time but this was the first gold medal at this championship level. Their “hope” Laila Abdullatif won Shakira McCrudden from Ireland and continued her impressive technical performance against experienced Ukranian boxer Emilia Mikhailiuk making new boxing history for Cyprus. 

England’s Thomas Varey has strong connections to boxing, his elder brother is also a well-known boxer at international level. 14-year-old English athlete made a long way to the finals of the EUBC European Schoolboys Boxing Championships but he was still fresh enough to keep his strong level in the finals where he defeated Murad Tagievi from Georgia at the pinweight (40kg) delivering one of the best performances of the championship. 

Georgia started with four gold medals in the first day of the finals but their Davit Japaridze continued that strong winning path against Oleksandr Levchenko from Ukraine at the semi-bantamweight (46kg). His teammate Gia Mitagvaria had difficulties in the first round against Garik Antanosyan from Armenia at the light middleweight (65kg) but his stamina helped him to win the next host nation’s gold medal. 

In the last final bout Tariel Sharikadze from Georgia had to fight for the title with the second finalist from Croatia – Lovro Pavcec. The Georgian super heavyweight (105kg) boxer was well-prepared for the finals and tried to overcome the Croatian in the attacks. The final verdict was split decision in favour of Sharikadze who brought Georgia the seventh gold medal of the event.

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