Thirty-nine bouts featured in the fourth competition day at the EUBC Schoolboys & Schoolgirls European Boxing Championships in Erzurum, Turkey where the first male medallists were revealed. Italy, Armenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Greece, Azerbaijan and England secured the first medals in the schoolboys part of the championships.
Following the EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships, the EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships and the EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships, the next continental event will be held for the schoolboys and schoolgirls.
The competition period of the EUBC Schoolboys & Schoolgirls European Boxing Championships is August 12-20. Following the rest day, the 29 finals will be held on August 20. The Technical Delegate of the EUBC Schoolboys & Schoolgirls European Boxing Championships is Mr. Viorel Sima of Romania.
The following 28 nations registered to attend at the EUBC Schoolboys & Schoolgirls European Boxing Championships: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.
The bout of the day
England’s Noah Barney-Smith put himself into the spotlight already in 2021 when he won several national events and belts. He has a strong coaching staff and the 14-year-old talent is now two-time National Champion therefore he was named as one of the favourites for the gold medal at the 48kg weight category. The English boxer had a very difficult opponent, another technician talent, Georgia’s Giorgi Kilasonia in the Round of 16 but he managed to win that preliminary contest in Erzurum.
The surprise of the day
Artur Arakelyan has Armenian roots but he competes for Georgia at the EUBC Schoolboys European Boxing Championships. The Georgian boxer had a few good shots in the first round but Hungary’s Tamas Brazovics surprised him with his number of attacks. The Hungarian controlled most of the exchanges in the second round and he had the advantage on the scorecards. Arakelyan tried to use closer range tactics but Brazovics had the right responses and the Hungarian eliminated the Georgian in their 52kg meeting.
The Round-Up
Scotland’s Aron Sarwar is a Schoolboys National Champion, silver medallist from the British Championships and he is the winner of the William Wallace Cup. He has only nine contests altogether but he had the advantage in all of the five judges’ scorecards after the first round when he faced Moldova’s Jan Cotoman. The Scottish boxer received further instructions from his ringside in the first break and Sarwar landed enough tough combinations to win this preliminary contest at the 44kg weight class.
The Georgians had fantastic preliminary contests in this championship, all of their boxers have the potential to win all of these challenges in Erzurum. Their 44kg boxer in the competition is Tsotne Munchava who met a neighbour, Armenia’s Sergis Tarloyan in the last 16 of the weight class. The Georgian dictated the tempo and he won two out of the three rounds which was enough to join the quarter-finals. Another boxer from that Caucasian region, Azerbaijan’s Subhan Babayev shined on the fourth competition day, he eliminated Romania’s Samuel Emanuel Cioaba.
Bulgaria’s Vladimir Davidov participated in several national events but this EUBC Schoolboys European Boxing Championships is his first major international competition. The Bulgarian found his best rhythm immediately in the opening round against Azerbaijan’s Turgay Rahimli and eliminated one of the medal favourites at the 48kg weight class. Another tough boxer of this category, Slovakia’s Sebastian Chocholacek used his tough shots to keep the best fighting distance and beat Serbia’s Nikola Bogatinovski.
Greece’s Petros Topalos impressed at the Gheorgheni Open in Romania two months ago and following those international experiences, he became the first male medallist in the entire EUBC Schoolboys European Boxing Championships. The Greek boxer was more effective than Romania’s Elisei Diego Otvos and advanced to the semi-finals of the 60kg weight class. Azerbaijan’s gold medal favourite Kanan Aslanli stopped his rival, while Ukraine’s Ivan Bezuhlyi and England’s Anthony McCarthy are also medallists in Erzurum.