Incredible day for Greece and Armenia at the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament
13 March 2022Sixteen male semi-final contests were held in the edition of the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament in Budva, Montenegro today. Greece and Armenia produced an incredible competition day in the strong youth competition, both nations defeated stars in Budva.
Nineteen nations arrived to attend at the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament from three Confederations: Albania, Armenia, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine.
The total number of boxers is 111 including 26 girls and strong commitment that one Ukrainian male talent can attend in Budva despite of the hard situation which affects their country. Kazakhstan is competing in the ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships currently but their second line-ups attend in the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament.
The Boxing Club Budva with the support of the Municipality of Budva are the organizers of the new youth competition. The young boxers can attend in 12 female divisions and in 13 male weight categories at the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament. The event will be a preparation event for the upcoming EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships which will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria on April 10-22.
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 Budva to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the 2022 Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament.
The bout of the day
The light heavyweight (80kg) is a tough category in the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament where Cuba’s Luis Frank Reynoso was the main favourite for the gold medal. He achieved the gold medal at the Panamerican Youth Games in Cali, Colombia last December and worked through the year of 2021 with unbeaten record. The Cuban boxer met with Greece’s Michail Tsamalidis in the semi-finals of the competition and the bout delivered the biggest sensation of the whole Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament. Reynoso underestimated his Greek rival who had the huge motivation to show his skills in Budva today. Tsalamidis exceeded all of the expectations and landed enough strong shots to beat the Cuban star.
The surprise of the day
Panagiotis Kostouros never boxed out of Greece yet but he received the chance to compete in the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament. The Greek light welterweight (63.5kg) boxer was unknown for Kazakhstan’s Tair Kazbek but he surprised about his rival’s strength in the semi-final. Kostouros had the youthful enthusiasm in their contest and never stopped attacking which surprised the Kazakh boxer. The Greek talent proved that he has the stamina and will be boxing for the title with Artur Mkrtchyan who surprisingly eliminated Kazakhstan’s ASBC Asian Youth Champion Yerassyl Yermek.
The Round-up
The Danish flyweight (51kg) boxers impressed in the quarter-finals stage of the Adriatic Pearl Youth Tournament and both of their talents advanced to the last four eliminating experienced rivals. Their Silas Gryholt met with Armenia’s Aren Aslamazyan in the semi-finals and he had another fantastic job against a top rival. Gryholt was near to beat his Armenian rival but Aslamazyan had excellent finish to win their semi-final contest in Budva. The second Danish boxer of this weight class also achieved finally a bronze medal following his loss to Georgia’s EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships silver medallist Gor Ayvazyan.
Armenia’s Manvel Petrosyan competed in two editions of the EUBC European Boxing Championships during his career, first as a schoolboy in 2018, secondly as a youth in Budva last October. The 17-year-old Armenian claimed silver medal in the last youth continental event and returned to Montenegro with high hopes. Petrosyan controlled most of the rounds against Denmark’s Mikkel Gribsholt and advanced to the final of the featherweight (57kg) where he can meet now with Kazakhstan’s Uralbek Abdikadirov.
Armenia’s next top boxer, Erik Israyelyan earned bronze medal at the Budva 2021 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships and he is still in the youth age group. Israyelyan keeps his weight and he attends at the lightweight (60kg) in Budva as in the last continentals five months ago. He had a few difficulties in the first round of his semi-final against Croatia’s Ante Greguric but he increased his tempo in the second when his punches were decisive. Following his RSC victory, he will face for the title with Kazakhstan’s new face, Sardorkhon Paizillakhanov who eliminated his Georgian opponent.
