Shakur Stevenson leads world class Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament line-up

July 7th, 2015 / All

The latest edition of the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament begins in Subotica, Serbia on July 8, as 188 registered men’s and women’s boxers will start their hopeful journey to gold medal glory.

Ones to watch in the event

Shakur Stevenson is one of the most dominant Youth athletes in the world, having won the 2013 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships, plus the 2014 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

The decorated 18-year-old is being tipped as a possible star of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and will be eager to impress the watching world in Subotica as he bids for yet another important gold medal.

Chinese Taipei’s Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Chen Nien Chin surprisingly lost her opening bout in the AIBA Women’s Junior/Youth World Boxing Championships two months ago, but despite that setback she is ready to show her truel skills in Serbia.

Sadreddin Akhmedov put himself into the spotlight after winning his first international tournament title at the 2014 Heydar Aliyev Junior Cup, and the 17-year-old Light Welterweight (64 kg) has also won the Kazakhstan Youth National Championships and the Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament this year.

Kazakhstan’s sensation is the favourite for gold in Subotica, but he will have strong Russian, Ukrainian and US opponents to deal with in the event.

Austria’s EUBC European Youth Continental Championships bronze medallist Aleksandar Mraovic only began boxing in 2012, but had since achieved top results at the Super Heavyweight class (+91 kg).

Austria’s biggest talent won the Danas Pozniakas Youth Memorial Tournament in March, and will aim to perform to that standard in the Serbian event.

Facts of the event

24 nations from three confederations will have representatives in the tournament, which makes this a world class event.

Hosts Serbia only won a single gold medal in the last edition of the tournament, so they will be keen to improve on that result in the upcoming days.

51 women’s boxers from 15 nations are registered to take part in the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament, while 137 men’s athletes from 22 countries are also on the entry list.

Kazakhstan will have 26 boxers in the competition, with the United States of America also travelling with a large delegation to Subotica.

Hungary have the biggest delegation in the women’s section of the event as their athletes have been preparing for next month’s EUBC European Women’s Youth/Junior Continental Championships.

The following 24 nations will be represented in Subotica: Armenia, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Cyprus, France, F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, United States of America and Wales.

History of the event

The first edition of the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament was held in the city of Zrenjanin in October 1985, and since then the competition has evolved into one of the biggest European youth tournaments.

Twenty-two champions were been crowned in the last edition in Subotica where the competition was a preparation event for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

Current Titleholders of the event