Finals in Usti nad Labem
19 March 2013
Kazakhstan claimed a hat-trick to finish on top of the gold medals podium at the 44th Usti nad Labem Grand Prix in the Czech Republic on Saturday.
Ilyas Suleymanov, who ousted Ireland’s two-time Olympic medalist Paddy Barnes in the last-eight, Adilet Niyazimbetov and Ivan Dychko went all the way in the flyweight, light-heavyweight and super-heavyweight classes with wins over China’s Mai Qingxian, Holland’s Peter Mullenberg and Armenia’s Armen Simonyan.
Hungary and Mongolia secured two gold medals apiece, courtesy of positive verdicts for Beijing Olympian Miklos Varga and Balazs Baczkai and Tugstogt Nyambayar and Enkhzorig Zorigtbaatar.
Nyambayar had 10 points to spare over Erik Agateljan of the Czech Republic in the bantamweight decider and Varga came from behind to beat current Irish Elite lightweight champion Sean McComb.
There was further disappointment for the Czech Republic in the light-welter class after Zdenek Chladek dropped a 15-9 decision to the impressive Zorigtbaatar, while Bacskai denied Mongolia a third gold after posting a 17-14 decision over Tuvshinbat Byama.
Irish middleweight Jason Quigley, the current European U/23 champion, recorded a comfortable 14-6 verdict over Serbia’s London 2012 Olympian Aleksandar Drenovak and Russia’s Evgeniy Tischenko beat Slovakia’s Sandro Dirndeld in the heavyweight final.
“The Usti nad Labem Grand Prix gave us the opportunity to take stock of where we are at in terms of our preparations for the European Championships in Belarus this summer, said Irish head coach Billy Walsh.
“Overall, I am happy with our performances of our squad in what was a very competitive tournament.”
By Bernard O’Neill