When the local team won eight gold medals and the Turkish squad claimed three, no other participating nations were able to take first place in Baku, Azerbaijan in the Great Silk Road Youth Tournament from March 3 until March 7, however, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Romania were able to win silver medals.
The Great Silk Road was an important trade path among China, India, Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean area. It was a significant factor in the development of great civilizations during ancient times and the Middle Ages. In past years, the Great Silk Road Tournament used to be organized for the men's elite boxers, but the Boxing Federation of Azerbaijan decided to change the age group to youth (boxers born in 1992 and 1993) because of the upcoming AIBA Youth World Championships. These will also be held in Baku later this year, making this event good preparation for the organizers.
Great names fought for the gold medal in the featherweight class final as Junior world champion and European Junior Championships bronze medalist Elvin Isayev of Azerbaijan and AIBA Junior World Championships silver medalist Aleko Chadashvili of Georgia battled it out until the local boxer won the contest 4:1.
Surprisingly, European junior champion 17-year-old Teymur Mammadov lost to Burak Aksin of Turkey in a close 81kg final by accepted scores. The young Turkish boxer competed in the AIBA Junior World Championships in Yerevan last year where he reached the quarterfinal in Armenia, but he did not move forward in the competition and he missed the medal.
Muhammet Aydin of Turkey has a lot of international experience: He already took part in the Ahmet Comert Tournament among the elite boxers, the European Youth Championships and the European Junior Championships. He celebrated his final victory in the Great Silk Road Tournament over Jaslan Kaparov of Kazakhstan in the 64kg category this year.
European Youth Championships silver medalist local welterweight boxer Emil Ahmadov could not win the tournament in Baku because he was defeated by newcomer Tolga Dogan of Turkey, with a final score of 1:0 to the Turkish boxer.
Aliyev Junior Cup winner Salman Alizade of Azerbaijan took the title in the light flyweight class, while his teammate Anar Aliyev claimed the gold medal in the bantamweight. Aliyev Junior Cup winner Hajibaba Hajibabayev and talented super heavyweight boxer Fargan Omarov of Azerbaijan won the two heaviest weight classes.
The best Central Asian former Soviet nations such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan took part with their second youth teams because the Asian Youth Championships were being held at the same time as the Great Silk Road Tournament.
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