The combinations of the women’s semi-finals and the men’s quarter-finals took place at the 40th edition of the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament in Subotica, Serbia on Day3. Scotland’s 18-year-old Aaron Cullen and Italy’s Maria Teresa Sannino won the most difficult fights of the daily sessions.
Altogether 48 women and 141 men boxers are participating for the medals in the new Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament. The event is a preparation tournament for the upcoming IBA Youth World Boxing Championships which will be held in La Nucia, Alicante region, Spain on November 13-27.
Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, North Macedonia, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine and United States of America are the participating 21 nations at the 40th Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament.
Boxers who were born in 2004 and in 2005 are eligible to attend in the 40th Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament where all of the 25 youth weight categories are in the official program. The total number of the participating nations was 15 in the 2021 Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament which was increased up to 21 in 2022.
The bout of the day
Scotland sent their best boxers to the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament and several of the talents are medallists in Subotica. Aaron Cullen represented Scotland at the 2021 Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament and achieved a valuable gold medal at the recent Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament a half year ago. The 18-year-old Scotsman had a strong quarter-final opponent, India’s Vishwas Mehra, and their contest was one of the best ones on Day3. Cullen was better in each of the round and he had the right responses to the Indian combinations. The Scottish boxer followed their elite star, Reese Lynch’s strategy in the third round and his stamina guaranteed the tight success for Cullen.
The surprise of the day
Italy’s Maria Teresa Sannino achieved a bronze medal at the Sofia 2022 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships and she has more than three years of international experiences but her Day3 opponent was Kazakhstan’s female No.1, Viktoria Baidukova. Her Kazakh rival won all of the recent ASBC Championships and arrived to Subotica as the main favourite of the women’s bantamweight (54kg). The 17-year-old Italian exceeded her previous level and followed her coach, Valeria Calabrese’s game plan which paid off in their semi-finals. Sannino’s surprise success means that she can meet in the final of the event with another Kazakh boxer, Elina Bazarova.
The Round-Up
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Yarovyi eliminated Kazakhstan’s Madiyar Taipakov in a fantastic contest in the first session and he had one day rest in the tournament. During his preparation against another dangerous opponent, he and his coaches built up tactics against India’s Preet Malik. The 18-year-old EUBC European Junior Champion not only adopted his new category, the light welterweight (63.5kg) but he controlled all of the actions against the tough Indian. Yarovyi eliminated his second Asian opponent in Subotica and will now meet for the title bout Scotland’s promising Sonny Kerr who turned back his quarter-final against Serbia’s Vladimir Berisa.
Serbia’s Uros Cingelic participated already at the 2018 EUBC Schoolboys European Boxing Championships in Albena and he was there almost all of the previous main competitions. The 18-year-old boxer remained at the welterweight (67kg), he is able to keep his weight and the Serbian is one of the local sensations in Subotica. Cingelic attacked from the first seconds against Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Rajko Tomovic and following his pressure the contest was finished by the ringside doctor. Cingelic joined the last four and three Kazakhs advanced to the semi-finals in this weight class.
Germany’s Malek Semo won his first contest at the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament on Day2 and he proved his very best in the next session. The German middleweight (75kg) boxer met Montenegro’s EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships bronze medallist native talent, Mirko Sarcevic in the quarter-finals. Semo surprised his 17-year-old rival in the first round and the Montenegrin was not able to find the best fighting distance in their bout. The German was effective from all of the distances and celebrated a guaranteed medal after the contest.
Ukraine’s Dzhamal Kuliyev was silver medallist at the 2020 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships and he is now their best youth cruiserweight (86kg) boxer. The 18-year-old talent prepared for a hard battle against Azerbaijan’s Rashid Mammadov but Kuliyev’s strength was decisive already in the first round. Two Serbians also advanced to the semi-finals in this weight class, Marko Pizurica eliminated Scotland’s Josh Mullen while Lazar Lazarevic stopped India’s Mohit.
Italy’s Luisa Acconcia has more than three years of international experiences and she is currently their best youth featherweight (57kg) boxer. The 17-year-old Italian is one of the medal hopes at the IBA Youth World Boxing Championships and proved her skills in the third day of boxing in Subotica. Acconcia started better in the attacks than Bulgaria’s best youth talent, Rumyana Aleksandrova and took the lead on the judges’ scorecards. The Italian felt that she has all of the skills to neutralize Aleksandrova’s attacks and joined the final of the category where her last rival will be Kazakhstan’s ASBC Asian Youth Champion Ulzhan Sarsenbek.