Eight countries won titles in the 57th Belgrade Winner Tournament
21 April 2019The 10 women and the 10 men finals were taking place at the 57thedition of the Belgrade Winner Tournament in the Serbian capital which sessions closed the strong international event. The Belgrade Winner Tournament, which named also as Branko Pesic Memorial, saw strong Australian, Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Serbian, Bulgarian and Hungarian successes in the day of the finals.
Altogether 23 nations are attending in the 57thedition of the Belgrade Winner Tournament from four different continents. 58 women boxers and 99 men athletes are attending in the competition from top boxing nations such as Russia, Kazakhstan, France, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, host Serbia, Croatia, Spain, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Moldova, Tunisia and Australia.
Bout of the day
Following the Australia vs. Australia final in the women’s part of the Belgrade Winner Tournament a Hungary vs. Hungary contest was held at the men’s flyweight (52kg) for the title of the event. Two-time Bocskai Memorial Tournament winner Istvan Szaka met for the final with his compatriot Martin Virban which was their sixth contest within short period of time. Both boxers were born in 1998 and have got strong future potential and their contest was a selection also for the upcoming top event. Szaka tried to reduce the fighting distance from the first seconds but Virban kept him long successfully. Their re-match was won by Martin Virban who has now an advantage to take part at the Minsk 2019 European Games and represents Hungary at the flyweight (52kg).
Surprises of the day
Bulgaria’s Emi-Mari Todorova claimed two gold medals in the EUBC European Confederation Women’s Youth Boxing Championships in 2016 and in 2017. She joined to the elites in 2018 and moved ahead in the rankings step by step and after 16 months of experiences in the highest level of boxing, she arrived to the top. The 20-year-old boxer lost to her EUBC European Women’s Champion veteran teammate Sevda Asenova in the previous events but she was able to do revenge and beat her main national rival at the very first time in the final of the Belgrade Winner Tournament.
Serbia’s first finalist in the Belgrade Winner Tournament was their 20-year-old Jelena Zekic but she was not enough experienced yet to beat Ukraine’s Iulia Tsyplakova in the title bout of the women’s featherweight (57kg). Her compatriot Nemanja Gavrilovic is a young talent at the men’s lightweight (60kg) who has got promising results in the international stages but his success over Turkey’s experienced Hakan Dogan was a surprise in Belgrade. Gavrilovic’s gold medal was Serbia’s lone title in the 57thBelgrade Winner Tournament.
The Round-Up
Busenaz Cakiroglu is a key boxer in the Turkish women’s national team who proved her strong developments in the final of the Belgrade Winner Tournament where she has done superb job against Kazakhstan’s AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships silver medallist Zhaina Shekerbekova. Following her success at the flyweight (51kg), another Busenaz in the Turkish national team won the title of the women’s welterweight (69kg). AIBA Youth World Champion and EUBC European U22 Champion Busenaz Surmeneli controlled her final over Bulgaria’s defending EUBC European Champion Melis Yonuzova.
Maria Badulina-Bova was AIBA Women’s World Champion in 2012 and after six years of that career highlight she claimed silver in New Delhi last November. The Ukrainian light welterweight (64kg) boxer used the best tactical elements to beat Kazakhstan’s Aliya Abdraimova in the final of the Belgrade Winner Tournament. Her teammate Anastasia Chernokolenko also faced in the final of the light heavyweight (81kg) against a Kazakh opponent, Aida Ongdash but she also defeated her Central Asian opponent. Ukraine defeated finally Kazakhstan 3-0 in the women’s finals as their third boxer Tetiana Shevchenko was slightly better than Umida Sadykova.
Australia amazed the crowd and the experts in the women’s finals where their AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships medallists as Kristy Harris (54kg) and Skye Nicolson (60kg) won their tight finals. Following their victories an Aussie final was scheduled at the women’s middleweight (75kg) where their two top boxers Caitlin Parker and Kaye Scott could fight for the title each other. The final verdict was unanimous decision in the favour of Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist Caitlin Parker.
Russia started the men’s finals with tough performance as their Vladimir Mnatsakanyan was able to beat Spain’s WSB boxer Salvador Martin Molina in the title bout of the light flyweight (49kg). EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Jose Quiles tried to do revenge against and beat Russia’s Eduard Savvin in the final of the bantamweight (56kg) and started the bout strongly. In spite of Quiles’ technical and tactical advantages Savvin won their contest knocking out his Spanish rival in the final.
EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships silver medallist Dmitri Galagot met for the title of the light welterweight (64kg) with Russia’s Gusein Magomedov and following their tight bout the Moldovan could celebrate his title. Victor Carapcevschi claimed Moldova’s second title in the Belgrade Winner Tournament following his success against Turkey’s Birol Aygun at the middleweight (75kg). Their veteran athlete Alexei Zavatin also impressed and defeated Serbia’s No.1 Vladan Babic in a hectic final at the super heavyweight (+91kg).
