Georgia’s Lasha Guruli and young boxers shined in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament
26 July 2018The 22nd edition of the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament was held in Odessa which city is located off the coast of the Black Sea. Georgia’s defending EUBC European U22 Champion Lasha Guruli and several other young boxers shined in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament.
The local organizers of the new edition of the traditional boxing event were able to hold the event in six competition days due the high number of participants. Several European countries attended in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament but participants arrived from the Asian continent as well from Jordan and Kazakhstan.
Ukraine hosted several big competitions in the recent two years including the 2017 edition of the EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships. Their boxers claimed five gold medals in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament in Odessa which event was the only European men’s elite international event in the month of July.
Israel’s David Alaverdian qualified for the Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships and attended in the Season VIII of the World Series Boxing as member of the Croatian Knights franchise. The Israeli boxer, who speaks four languages, moved back to the light flyweight (49kg) which was his original category and impressed in Odessa where he defeated his Kazakh and Moldovan rivals with his speed.
Georgia’s Nodari Darbaidze was excellent among the youth boxers and since 2016 he has been attending in the elite age group. The 21-year-old Georgian moved up to the flyweight (52kg) but he adopted the strength of the punches quickly. Darbaidze was also member of the Croatian Knights WSB franchise in Season VIII and those experiences paid off in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament in Odessa where he defeated Ukraine’s powerful Maksym Fatych in the final.
Jordan sent a team to the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament and their veteran former ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Mohammed Abdelaziz Al-Wadi was too smart to his opponents at the bantamweight (56kg). The 33-year-old Jordanian, who has been preparing to the upcoming Asian Games, was in top form and defeated Ukraine’s Rostyslav Kravchenko and Belarus’ Mikalai Shakh in the final stages of his category.
Ukraine’s Stas Batiy was too strong for his teammate Oleksiy Kozelok in the semi-final of the lightweight (60kg) and he was able to continue his winning path against Belarus’ Anton Chernamaz in the final. The Belarusian boxer injured after Batiy’s lethal punches and the ringside doctor decided to stop their final in Odessa which means Ukraine claimed its first title after the fourth bout of the last competition day.
Moldova’s Alexandru Paraschiv was silver medallist in the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships a few years ago and after several unexpected losses and issues he returned to the elite stage in better form. The 19-year-old Moldovan was slightly better than Belarus’ tall favourite Dzmitry Dziashkevich in the final of the light welterweight (64kg) and celebrated his first ever elite tournament title after the last gong.
Georgia’s Lasha Guruli is the defending champion at the EUBC European Confederation U22 Boxing Championships and he is among the best Olympic hopes of his country. The 22-year-old Georgian moved up to the welterweight (69kg) in the recent months and opened his campaign in that category with a gold medal in the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament. Following his success over Israel’s Myroslav Ishchenko-Kapuler in the semi-final he walked over to the title against Azerbaijan’s Olympic Games silver medallist Lorenzo Sotomayor.
The host country of the Semen Trestin Memorial Tournament won the titles from the middleweight (75kg) up to the super heavyweight (+91kg) in Odessa. Dmytro Shcherbina, Andrii Isakov, Ivan Yukhta and Vitaliy Pokuliak all defeated their rivals in the international competition in Odessa. Yukhta caused the biggest surprise among them who triumphed over Ukraine’s National Champion Dmytro Lisovyi in the final of the heavyweight (91kg).
