Titleholder Anna Slowik and three other Polish women boxers won gold medals at the 7th European Union Women's Championships in Katowice, where the local boxers put in a superb performance with all of their boxers reaching the finals.
The first Polish victory was achieved by 22-year-old Sandra Kruk who beat former EU Champion Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria in the 57kg weight class.
Poland's National Champion Katarzyna Furmaniak caused a huge surprise in the welterweight final when she beat powerful Marichelle De Jong of the Netherlands, who had eliminated titleholder Bianka Nagy of Hungary in the quarter-final.
Former European Youth Champion Lidia Fidura of Poland also had a Dutch opponent in the middleweight final and defeated Nouchka Fontijn. Fontijn had beaten two-time AIBA World Champion Maria Kovacs of Hungary in the semi-final. The sound performance by the Dutch women boxers in Katowice bodes well for the country's team ahead of the European Women's Championships, which will be held in Rotterdam.
The host nation's super heavyweight boxer Anna Slowik took the gold in Keszthely at last year's edition and as expected defended her throne in Katowice in front of the home crowd after beating Turkey's newcomer Sennur Demir by 12:8.
A total of 84 female athletes competed in the competition from 19 nations: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
Turkey's newcomer flyweight Meltem Akar won her two contests in Katowice and celebrated the biggest result in her career.
Two-time AIBA World Championships silver medalist Nicola Adams of England eliminated Italy's titleholder Valeria Calabrese and then beat Poland's legend Karolina Michalczuk in the flyweight final.
Turkey's Ayse Tas was one of the biggest favourites in the 54kg weight class and realized her golden dreams in Katowice after beating Delphine Mancini of France in the semi-final and local hope Sandra Drabik by a close 14:12 in the final.
Ireland's World No.1 and triple AIBA World Champion Katie Taylor eliminated one of her biggest opponents, Strandja Tournament winner Denitsa Eliseeva of Bulgaria, in the first preliminary round and later defeated England's 20-year-old Chantelle Cameron in the semi-final. The Bray boxer defended her throne against Poland's AIBA Women's World Championships bronze medalist Karolina Graczyk.
England's Natasha Jonas and Poland's European Championships silver medalist Oliwia Luczak were the most experienced boxers in the light welterweight class and as expected both competitors reached the final, which finished with a clear victory in Jonas' favour.
AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Timea Nagy had two hard contests in Katowice but the young Hungarian emerged victorious from both of them to take the top step on the podium in the heavyweight medal ceremony.
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