Milena Matovic won the lone female bout at the Belgrade Winner Tournament on Day1
31 March 2022The 59th edition of the Belgrade Winner Tournament started with 13 contests in the Serbian capital. Among the thirteen bouts, one was held at the female part of the competition and Serbia’s Milena Matovic opened her campaign in her new category with a success. Ukraine’s Yaroslav Khartsyz, Kyrgyzstan’s Nuradin Rustambek Uulu and Kazakhstan’s Daniyal Sabit were excellent in the opening session.
Serbia’s main international event has scheduled for the elite women and men boxers as in the recent editions. The event is preparation before the main events in May as the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and the EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships. The Technical Delegate of the 59th Belgrade Winner Tournament is Mr. Maxim Cherticovtsev of Moldova.
Belgrade was the host of the last edition of the AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships a few months ago. Since then, the Serbians hosted the Golden Gloves Tournament and the Nations Women’s Cup, which will follow the Belgrade Winner Tournament for the elite boxers.
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 Serbia to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the Belgrade Winner Tournament.
The bout of the day
Serbia’s Milena Matovic and Morocco’s Oumayma Bel Ahbib met in the lone female contest of the first competition day of the Belgrade Winner Tournament. The Serbian boxer competed in several categories in the recent years and finally moved down to the welterweight (66kg) in the recent months. Matovic, who has been attending in the international competitions since 2011, felt the tempo well in the first round but she was not able to keep that rhythm until the last gong. Bel Ahbib responded with nice jabs but she was not able to turn back their contest which was one of the best ones in Belgrade.
The Round-Up
Serbia’s Nemanja Gavrilovic has a few years of experiences in the international events and finally he found his best category, the light welterweight (63.5kg). The Serbian boxer met with an African opponent, Sierra Leone’s Martin Sorgbor Tamba and he took the lead on the judges’ scorecards after three minutes. Gavrilovic knew how to handle the tactical issues in their contest and defeated his rival by unanimous decision in the lone bout of the weight category on Day1.
Kyrgyzstan sent a strong and young team to the Belgrade Winner Tournament and after the last edition and the AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships, their boxers returned to the Serbian capital. Kyrgyzstan’s light middleweight (71kg) No.1, Nuradin Rustambek Uulu achieved a gold medal at the 2019 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships and he was quickly involved to their elite team after that success. Rustambek Uulu is a strong puncher and the 21-year-old talent proved his very best against Serbia’s Nikola Lazarevic already in the first exchanges. The referee stopped their unequal contest in the first round for safety reasons and confirmed the Kyrgyz boxer’s success.
Kazakhstan’s Daniyal Sabit was born in 2002 but he achieved already a silver medal at the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Dubai last May before his 19th birthday. Sabit faced with an even younger Kazakh rival in the first competition day, Kenzhe Muratuly in a unique contest. Sabit and Muratuly both moved up to the flyweight (51kg) since their last international events and amazed the experts with their speed. Sabit used up his opponent’s faults especially in the second and third rounds to win their brilliant contest in Belgrade.
Ukraine’s Yaroslav Khartsyz achieved strong international results in the recent five years starting with a silver medal at the 2017 EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships. The Ukrainian light welterweight (63.5kg) boxer had another well-experienced rival, Morocco’s Mohamed Hamout who qualified for two Olympic Games. The Ukrainian had fantastic final round and his stamina decided their tight contest in Belgrade on Day1. In another top contest of the weight category, Wales’ Romeo Costa defeated Armenia’s Narek Hovhannisyan winning the bout by split decision.
