The preliminaries of the European Youth Championships finished in Dublin on Wednesday and boxers from Russia, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Lithuania and Germany were magnificent on the third competition day. AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu visited the event which shows the importance of it.
Former AIBA Junior World Champion, German Theo Krechlok, had unsuccessful series last year so he trained even more for this European Youth Championships. In the opening bout, the 18-year-old top talent defeated a strong rival, Chemistry Cup bronze medalist, Turkish Gokhan Gural, by 15:5.
European Junior Championships bronze medalist, Lithuanian 17-year-old Eimantas Stanionis, showed his excellent skills this year and advanced to the quarter-finals after beating England's great prospect, Qais Ashfaq, by a large margin of points, 16:5 in the bantamweight division.
Russian Youth National Champion Radzhab Butayev eliminated defending AIBA Youth World Champion, Shaban Shahpalangov of Azerbaijan, in the first preliminary round and had another hectic battle yesterday. The 18-year-old boxer secured his advantage against Dublin-born George Bates and won the bantamweight battle by accepted scores.
Ireland's team captain National Elite Champion, Michael McDonagh, eliminated his top rival Kristian Stepanov of Russia in the first preliminary round. The local hero then triumphed over AIBA Junior World Championships quarter-finalist, Belarusian Aleksey Khokhlov, by a clear 10:3.
Lithuania's Edgaras Skurdelis, who has been involved into the national squad since 2007, had enough experience to beat Germany's Jurij Belinger by 15:14 in the lightweight class. He will face Turkey's Dursun Gedik for a medal.
Youth Olympic Games winner, Lithuanian Ricardas Kuncaitis, is the top favourite of the light welterweight class. For his second contest in Dublin he stopped European Junior Championships quarter-finalist, Hungarian Laszlo Szilvai.
Strandja Memorial Tournament winner and Kuncaitis' biggest rival, Bulgarian Nikolay Koev, eliminated Brandenburg Tournament winner, German Philip Nsingi. The ringside doctor ended the contest in the last round due to Nsingi's injury.
Brandenburg Tournament winner and best boxer of that event, Irish Michael O'Reilly, defeated AIBA Youth World Championships competitor, Ukrainian Yevgeniy Barabanov, in Germany in June. On their re-match in Dublin, the local talent won the contest by a extremely close 17:16 due to his punch in the last few seconds.
European Junior Championships gold medalist and Russian National Youth Champion, Igor Kharitonov, eliminated Croatian 17-year-old Franko Antic by 22:6 in the middleweight class while Italy's top talent, Giuseppe Ranno, also advanced to the quarter-finals after beating Ivan Nesterenko from Ukraine.
Despite his lack of experience at the international level, Russian National Youth Champion Magomed Madiyev won over Georgia's middleweight No.1 and AIBA Youth World Championships quarter-finalist, Nikoloz Sekhniashvili, by 14:7. He will be fighting against Hungary's only remained athlete, Szilard Szabo.
In the light heavyweight class, Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist and Turkish National Elite Champion, Burak Aksin, who is the top favourite of the division, thrashed Hungary's newcomer Lajos Sarkadi and will be facing Brandenburg Youth Cup winner, Russian Vladimir Korsunov.
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