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Records galore at AIBA World Junior Championships Yerevan 2009

30.05.2009

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AIBA World Junior Championships Yerevan 2009 medal history

Armenia, Belarus, Germany and Ireland have AIBA World Junior Champions for the first time, four countries (Armenia, Ecuador, Israel and Moldova) claim their first ever AIBA World Junior Championship medals and a record medal haul is recorded for Lithuania as the AIBA World Junior Championships Yerevan 2009 came to a close in the Armenian capital on Saturday.

Korun Soghomonyan (ARM), Ivan Baranchyk (BLR), Theo Krechlok (GER) and Joseph Ward (IRL) will receive a hero's welcome on their return home after becoming champions in the 46kg, 52kg, 48kg and 70kg weight divisions respectively.

Pic: Joseph Ward, in red, on his way to claiming Ireland's first AIBA World Junior Championship medal

Medal hauls of one gold, two silver and four bronze (Armenia), one silver and one bronze (Ecuador and Moldova) and one silver (Israel) will delight the respective federations having stepped on the winner's podium for the first time.

Meanwhile, Lithuania's one silver and three bronze medals beat its previous best performance in 2003 of one silver and one bronze medal while boxing superpower Russia also gave another perfect illustration of its strength and depth with a commanding haul of nine medals (five gold and four bronze), winning each of its finals.

Sergey Sobylinski (50kg), Magomed Abdulamagomedov (63kg) , Andrey Egorov (66kg), Idris Shakhmanov (75kg) and Gasan Gimbatov (+80kg) all stood on top of the winner's podium as Russia led the medal count - two better than the next best, Armenia, which collected seven. The nine medals also adds to the impressive tally Russia has amounted since the AIBA World Junior Championships started in 2001 (from 2001-2007 it was called the AIBA Cadet World Championships), which now stands at 62, including 28 gold, with the Ukraine the next best county with 36, including 12 gold.

With a record number of countries (15) represented in the finals of the AIBA World Junior Championships Yerevan 2009 , an impressive number (seven) went on to win gold in AIBA's premier tournament for boxers aged 15 and 16 years of age.

Armenia, which has been a perfect host for the AIBA World Junior Championships Yerevan 2009, capped off an excellent tournament when 2009 junior national champion and 2008 European Schoolboy Championships quarterfinalist Soghomonyan became Armenia's first AIBA world junior champion after he impressively beat Indian junior national champion Sandeep 10:4 in the 46kg final, setting the tone for an impressive finals day in Yerevan.

Germany was also soon celebrating when Krechlok completed an outstanding tournament by claiming the 48kg title, with a 6:0 win over Bagdet Uaidayev (KAZ). The Carpatian Junior Cup winner and 46kg quarterfinalist in the 2008 European Junior Championships, was a deserved winner, conceding only eight points during the entire tournament (seven of those in his 8:7 semifinal win against the tournament favourite Housein Baisanghorow of Russia).

2008 European Schoolboy Championships champion Sobylinski collected Russia's first gold medal win of the day with an 8:2 win against Talgat Bertleuov (KAZ) before Baranchyk won Belarus' first ever gold medal at this level with an 11:2 win over Yerbolat Seidalliyev (KAZ) in the 52kg final.

2009 Panamerican Junior champion Yunior Ernesto Valdes Boleri claimed Cuba's first gold of the day and ninth in the history of the tournament with a classy 5:3 win in the 54kg final against 2007 European Schoolboy Championships bronze medallist Jonik Tonoyan (ARM) before 2009 Panamerican junior champion Arlen Lopez Cardoso (CUB) lived up to his favouritsm for the 57kg title and beat Georgia's best junior boxer Aleko Chadashvili 5:3.

The Ukraine's Oleh Neklyudov completed an excellent tournament by beating Ricardas Kuncaitis (LTU) 4:2 in the 60kg final before the 63kg final lived up to its billing as the most impressive of the day with two of the favourites - Russia Junior National Championships gold and silver medallist Abdulamagomedov and 2009 Panamerican Junior Championships silver medallist Samuel Saul Raul Rodriguez (CUB) - going head to head before the referee stopped the contest in the third round in favour of the Russian.

Pic: Oleh Neklyudon (UKR) in blue beating Ricardas Kuncaitis (LTU) 4:2 in the 60kg final

Israel's Dan Aharono missed out on becoming for first AIBA world junior champion from his country when he lost the 66kg welterweight final to Andrey Egorov (RUS) 12:4 but it was a commendable performance from the 2007 European schoolboy champion who has the consolation of recording Israel's best ever result.

Ward, meanwhile, will be the toast of Ireland after claiming the country's first medal at the AIBA World Junior Championships and to cap it off it was gold with a stunning third round stoppage over home favourite Hayk Khachatryan of Armenia in the 70kg final. Ward was 16-1 up when the bout was stopped with just six seconds remaining to the final bell. "If it was up to me Joe would get the boxer of the tournament award," Irish coach Jim Moore said. "He's been absolutely brilliant all week. He was very patient in the first and second rounds (in the final) but when he moved up through the gears in the third he just ran away with it, he was outstanding."

The middleweight hot favourite Shakhmanov - the 2008 European Schoolboy champion and a 2009 Russian National Junior Championships bronze medallist - kept up Russia's unbeaten run on the final day with a commanding 8:1 win over Oleg Korobka (UKR) in the 75kg final, before Mirzobek Hasanov claimed Uzbekistan's only gold of the tournament when he beat Ecuador's Italo Perea Castillo 13:6 in the 80kg final. It was an impressive tournament from Perea Castillo who performed well above expectations to claim Ecuador's first AIBA World Junior Championships medal.

The last contest of the day saw Russia walk away with its fifth gold medal when Gimbatov beat Victor Ialimov (MDA), with the referee stopping the contest in the third round due to injury. Ialimov can still be extremely pleased with his performance considering it was Moldova's best ever result.

In a tournament of firsts, a total of 11 countries made their junior debut at this tournament - Argentina, Botswana, China, Ecuador, Ghana, Iran, Montenegro, Morocco, Nigeria, Thailand, and Venezuela - as Armenia hosted its first World Boxing Championships.