Monday saw the opening day of the Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, featuring more than 150 boxers from 23 different nations. Traditionally a showcase for exceptional young talent, the 2014 event in Bangkok saw Kazakhstan’s superb Abylaykhan Zhussupov establish himself on the world stage, and this year’s field once again boasted a hugely competitive line up.

Kazakhstan’s Vasilii Samchuk delighted the home crowd in the first bout of the championships as he demonstrated his power against South Korea’s Seongchan Baek before the referee halted the bout midway through the second round. Kyrgyzstan’s Syrgak Dzhanseitov then made a superb recovery to overcome Japan’s Keisuke Matsumoto in their light flyweight contest.

“I arrived in Pavlodar with big plans but I was not fully focused in the opening round of today’s bout. Luckily my coach had a good tactical response to the Japanese boxer in the first break, and my aggressive style then worked better. I have taken my first step here in Pavlodar and hope I can win more bouts and get a medal in the championships,” said Kyrgyzstan’s talented Syrgak Dzhanseitov afterwards.

Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-Yu Hsu made a big impact in his first major event, defeating Thailand’s Krit Phuangchin to advance to the quarter-finals along with Uzbekistan’s Pavlyukov Youth Memorial tournament winner and gold-medal hope Otabek Kholmatov, who defeated Sri Lankan Rukmal Prasanna.

Some of the best action of the day came in the middleweight tie between Kazakhstan’s Aman Kazankapov and Kyrgyzstan’s Mukhammadyusuf Akbarov. The 18-year-old Kazakh boxer looked fresh in the first round but the referee counted him in the second after a strong Akbarov right hook. Kazankapov then came back into the match once again in the third round, and finally his hand was raised in victory.

Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Wei Kan won his country’s National Olympic Trials and went on to compete at last month’s AIBA Asian & Oceanian Olympic Qualification event in Qian’an, and used that experience to deliver his country’s second success of the day. Kan controlled his bout from the start against Japan’s Natsu Shinjo, earning a TKO win before the end of the first round.

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