Ireland and Ukraine both earned three gold medals at the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships in Budva, Montenegro. Three of the boxers defended their titles, and some promising countries such as Armenia and Lithuania earned gold medals. Irish Amy Broadhurst claimed her third major title in 2022 after the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Altogether, 154 boxers from 30 nations took part in the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Moldova, host Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales sent boxers to Budva.

Bulgaria’s Sevda Asenova was the first winner in Budva

Bulgarian Sevda Asenova achieved her first European title in 2016 and she was aiming for second one in Budva. The veteran Bulgarian has her second golden age this year. In the final, she faced Roberta Bonatti from Italy who showed a strong performance at the entire championships and defeated England’s 2019 silver medallist, Demie-Jade Resztan in the semi-finals. Asenova used her excellent tempo to catch the Italian and her long distance tactics paid off in the first final of the event which means she earned her second European title.

Amy Broadhurst from Ireland won her third major title in 2022

After Kellie Harrington’s gold medal, the Irish girls impressed on the day of the finals in Budva. Amy Broadhurst won the EUBC European U22 Boxing Championships twice in 2018 and in 2019. Following the Covid-19 outbreak, the Irish boxer was so hungry for success and earned a gold medal at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The Irish girl remained at the light welterweight (63kg) and looked fully confident in all of her contests in Budva. Broadhurst faced Ukraine’s former World Champion veteran Maria Bova in the final and dominated that fight from the first moments until the last ones.

Armenia’s historic winner is Ani Hovsepyan

Among the Armenian girls, a former Swedish boxer, Armine Sinabian was the most successful one with a silver from the 2011 edition. Armenia began to develop women’s boxing only ten years ago and after their hard work, the country was able to get a gold medal among the elite boxers. Ani Hovsepyan was a prominent boxer at the junior, youth and U22 age groups but she bagged the title at the light middleweight (70kg) among the elite boxers in Budva. The 24-year-old athlete is the strongest puncher of this weight class and her style determined her triumph over Christina Desmond from Ireland in the final.

O’Rourke defended her throne

The Irish girls received a strong motivation after Katie Taylor’s successes, and the five-times World Champion inspired the whole nation in women’s boxing. Aoife O’Rourke did not succeed in the youth age group but she worked extremely hard to reach the top level at the middleweight (75kg). She surprised the European continent in Alcobendas three years ago and she remained on the top of the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships in Budva as well. Poland’s Elzbieta Wojcik had more bouts than the Irish girl but O’Rourke had better punches  and won her second European title.

Ukraine earned three gold medals in Budva

Following Kob’s and Kovalchuk’s gold medals, the Ukrainians bagged their third European title in the very last final of the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships. Maria Lovchynska had impressive youth and U22 results. The Ukrainian heavyweight (+81kg) boxer had a game plan against veteran Aynur Rzayeva from Azerbaijan and she followed that efficiently to win the last final of the event.

‘I checked everything here in Budva personally. Transportation, food, hotels, conditions for athletes and officials, venue – everything was excellent. The level is very high in the women’s division now. New stars from many new countries are coming along with the athletes who had already proved they were brilliant boxers. In 2-3 years we will see big progress in women European boxing.
Very important thing is that the judges’ decisions here were 100% correct, and everybody is happy with the results. And together with the good conditions here in Montenegro that made this Championships perfect.
Next event is possible to take place here in Montenegro. After the bidding process, we will choose the best proposal from the national federations and the one that wins will host the new championships next year. But yes, Montenegro is excellent in everything – hotels, food, transport and hospitality. I hope other championships will have the same level as it was here,’ Dr. Ioannis Filippatos, EUBC President commented.

‘I am very satisfied with the championship – both the organization and the result. For our part, we did our best, we did our best. According to the feedback I heard, everyone is very satisfied. We were lucky with the weather, the competition hall was very well organized, the quality of judging was high – not a single complaint or conflict arose. All the boxers are happy, everybody got their medals.
The fights were very interesting. Recently we were at the men’s championship, and I would like to notice that the girls showed such a will to win that, in my opinion, the fights were as intense as the European Championships in Yerevan. There were very high level athletes, and there were a lot of young ones. For example in the 54 kg weight category, which I followed closely, because our athlete was there. All, who were considered favorites in this category, lost in the first round of the competition to the athletes, who were not even considered favorites. It shows that all are very seriously prepared, and the level of competition is very high. I am very satisfied with the performance of the Montenegro team. We had two athletes, and both won bronze and silver medals. We are a little sad about the silver medal, because we had to stop the fight because of an injury, so we could not do our best. But it gives us an opportunity to think more seriously about our plans for the future.
Next year, if the EUBC considers us worthy, we are ready to host European competition of any level. Next year, we wanted to apply for the European Schoolboys & Schoolgirls Championship. Because we have many athletes in this age category, and we can send a full team,’ Alexander Klemenko, Montenegro Boxing Association President said.

The list of the winners at the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships

48kg: Sevda Asenova, Bulgaria

50kg: Busenaz Cakiroglu, Turkey

52kg: Tetiana Kob, Ukraine

54kg: Anastasia Kovalchuk, Ukraine

57kg: Irma Testa, Italy

60kg: Kellie Harrington, Ireland

63kg: Amy Broadhurst, Ireland

66kg: Stefanie Von Berge, Germany

70kg: Ani Hovsepyan, Armenia

75kg: Aoife O’Rourke, Ireland

81kg: Gabriele Stonkute, Lithuania

+81kg: Maria Lovchynska, Ukraine