Bruyevich and Asatrian won their debuting bouts at the Victory Day Tournament

The Victory Day Tournament began with its first competition day in Gomel, Belarus which is the next European international event. Belarus’ Helina Bruyevich had hard job in the opening session but she managed to win that difficult featherweight (57kg) bout. Russia’s promising star at the women’s lightweight (60kg), Nune Asatrian has done excellent job during her debut in Gomel.

The Belarusian city of Gomel is the host of the Victory Day Tournament to commemorate of the end of the World War II. Altogether 75 boxers are attending in the Victory Day Tournament including many of Europe’s stars. Belarus’ European Games winner and AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Dzmitry Asanau is the biggest name in the men’s entry list and the main favourite for the gold medal at the lightweight (63kg).

The safety of all participants, the continuous medical checks, the social distancing, the hygienic preparations, wearing masks and all of the health controls are the responsibility of the local organizers in the Belarus to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the Victory Day Tournament.

The bout of the day

Belarus’ Helina Bruyevich competed at the 2011 Nikolayev Women’s Cup in Ukraine and after 10 years of experiences, she is one of the veterans of the host country. She moved up to the featherweight (57kg) and she is still in the competition for the quota at the European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event. The Belarusian had to meet with Ukraine’s Anastasia Kovalchuk in the first competition day of the Victory Day Tournament. Kovalchuk competed at the Strandja Memorial Tournament but she was more competitive than expected. Bruyevich was smaller and used her energetic attacks which decided the closest contests of the opening day.

The Round-Up

Belarus’ Yulia Apanasovich joined to the national team in 2016 and quickly won a bronze medal at the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships in Sofia. Since then she moved down two categories and competes at the flyweight (51kg) in Gomel where she opened her campaign against Ukraine’s Olha Shalimova. The Belarusian was too experienced for the younger Ukrainian therefore Apanasovich remained in action in Gomel which performance was impressive before the European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event.

Russia’s Nune Asatrian impressed in the youth events, she claimed silver medals in the World and European Championships due to her losses to England’s star Caroline Dubois. The Russian youngster is their current Elite National Champion and proved strong developments in the recent one year. The 20-year-old talent met with Ukraine’s newcomer Marianna Basanets in the first round of the lightweight (60kg) and she was quicker than her neighbouring opponent.

Belarus’ EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships Kiryl Levankou was unlucky with the draw at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Kielce and he had an early elimination. The 19-year-old boxer moved up to the lightweight (60kg) since the Kielce event and opened his campaign well in Gomel. Levankou used his long distance tactic well against his teammate, Maksim Krupouski and marched to the next round of the tournament.