A longer session was held with 28 contests in the evening of the third competition day at the AIBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Boxing Championships in Kielce. The favorites of the women’s bantamweight (54kg) Uzbekistan’s Nigina Uktamova and Russia’s Anastasia Kirienko eliminated their high-ranked rivals today.

Boxers in the women’s light flyweight (48kg), bantamweight (54kg), welterweight (69kg), as well as in men’s welterweight (69kg) competed in the evening session of Day 3 in the Polish city.

Poland and India won the first female contests of the evening session

Poland’s next female boxer who has done her debut at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships was Natalia Kuczewska in the light flyweight (48kg). The Polish girl had a strong preparation for the event and proved her upgraded skills in the first round against Ukraine’s Yulia Peleshuk. Kuczewska felt the rhythm well enough and she had the stamina to keep the same level until the final gong. All of the judges picked her as the winner of the bout, therefore, the Polish girl advanced to the next stage.

India’s Gitika replaced a more experienced boxer, Rajni Singh in the national team in the light flyweight (48kg) but she deserved that trust in Kielce. The Indian girl had only a few international contests before the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships but she shined against Russia’s defending EUBC European Youth Champion Diana Ermakova today. Gitika had strong motivation to beat the Russian girl and she has done enough to win that top contest in the evening session.

Women boxers from Uzbekistan and Russia advanced to the quarter-finals in the bantamweight (54kg)

Uzbekistan’s defending ASBC Asian Women’s Junior Champion Nigina Uktamova has never lost any international contests during her career. However, she received several punches from India’s Arshi Khanam in the first round. Uktamova was technically better at the beginning but the Indian used her skills to land good punches. The Uzbek girl increased her tempo at the beginning of the second round and dominated the period with tough jabs. Uktamova landed dozens of punches but Khanam could adopt the tempo, therefore, the third round was decisive in their contest. The experienced Uzbek was effective in the last minutes and eliminated a brave rival.

Anastasia Kirienko is the 2019 EUBC European Junior Champion and a silver medallist from the 2020 EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships. She defeated a star teammate, Liana Tarasian at their Youth National Championships which guaranteed her participation in Kielce. The Russian girl had a strong opponent as first, Greece’s Antonia Giannakopoulou who won international tournaments as a junior. Kirienko moved back a few steps before her counter-attacks and her safest fighting range guaranteed the Russian success, which meant another favorite advanced to the quarter-finals in the bantamweight (54kg).

Strong preliminary contests in the men’s welterweight (69kg)

The men’s welterweight (69kg) is a tough category at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and many of the experienced boxers proved the top quality of boxing in Kielce. Iran’s Farhad Moradi joined the national team four years ago and he started his campaign well in Kielce against Lithuania’s Ruslanas Zalys. The Iranian boxer was better in all aspects of boxing and eliminated the Baltic hope in the last 32 of the event.

Mongolia’s Jandos Askhar moved up to the welterweight (69kg) in recent months but his tricky gameplay paid off against Thailand’s newcomer Rattapol Kadamduan in the next exciting contest of the category. One of the main gold medal contenders of this division, Ukraine’s two-time European Youth Champion Yuriy Zakharieiev has done magnificent attacks against Italy’s Manuel Lombardi. He dominated the second round with pressurizing tactics and proved he is a favorite in Kielce.

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