The strong Hungarian squad and the host team dominated at the Slovakian Grand Prix in Nitra over the weekend. The tournament was an active preparation for the upcoming European Championships, which will be taking place in Ankara from June 17.
Altogether 44 qualified boxers from six neighbouring Central European nations competed at the event, they were Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia and host Slovakia.
The first gold medal at the tournament was secured by Hungary's Turkish Prime Ministry Tournament winner 20-year-old Istvan Lakatos, who beat Slovakia's youth boxer Matus Zupko by 12:7 in the light flyweight class.
Slovakia's 17-year-old National Youth Champion Roman Formanek defeated European Youth Championships quarterfinalist Zsolt Dobradi by 13:8 in the flyweight final and has a good chance of making Slovakia's youth team.
The Czech Republic's great hope, 18-year-old Patrik Velky, claimed his nation's only gold in Nitra after beating Slovakia's Filip Barak in the bantamweight final. Hungary's rising star and Zlatko Hrbic Tournament winner Krisztian Nagy had to make do with a bronze.
Serbia's AIBA World Championships quarterfinalist 21-year-old Branimir Stankovic is back on track after a one-year suspension and beat Hungary's strong European Championships bronze medalist Miklos Varga by a close 14:12 in their lightweight semi-final contest but was subsequently defeated by Slovakia's top boxer Tomas Vano by a single point in the gold medal contest.
Two-time AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Gyula Kate of Hungary is going for gold at the upcoming European Championships in Ankara and as expected he triumphed over Matus Babiak of Slovakia by 10:5 in the light welterweight final. The Czech Republic's biggest boxing hope Zdenek Chladek missed the event in order to save himself for major events.
In the welterweight class Slovakia's newcomer in the national team Michal Babiak won the gold medal by walk-over against Croatia's European Championships quarter-finalist veteran Borna Katalinic, who eliminated Hungary's welterweight No.2 Arpad Klasz by accepted scores en route to to the final.
Serbia's former European Junior Champion 22-year-old Nikola Jovanovic won the gold medal by walk-over in the middleweight class against Hungary's Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist 18-year-old Zoltan Harcsa, who was unable to take to the ring for the final due to a hand injury.
Beijing Olympic Games quarterfinalist Imre Szello of Hungary eliminated the Czech Republic's Vladimir Reznicek during their third fight in Nitra and went on to secure the gold medal without a fight against Croatia's Ante Cepo.
Slovakia's strong heavyweight boxer Sandro Dirnfeld showed his excellent skills at the 2009 AIBA World Championships in Milan when he eliminated Armenia's European Championships silver medalist Tsolak Ananikyan. Dirnfeld was also too strong for his opponents in Nitra and defeated Hungary's two-time European Championships bronze medalist Jozsef Darmos by a large margin.
Hungary's WSB boxer Istvan Bernath took the last gold medal in the tournament in the super heavyweight class and the host team's Stefan Sliz secured the silver.
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