Oganisian, Golovchenko and Gapeshina are among the winners of the Korotkov Memorial Tournament

The Konstantin Korotkov Memorial Tournament finished with its 15 finals in Khabarovsk, Russia where altogether 99 boxers competed for the medals. Russia’s experienced boxers as Ovik Oganisian, Galina Golovchenko and Elena Gapeshina all won the gold medals in the Korotkov Memorial Tournament.

Konstantin Korotkov was the Hero of the Soviet Union who received the highest award of the former country in 1943. He won several boxing events before 1941 and the competition in Khabarovsk was named after him. Konstantin Korotkov was killed in action in the end of the World War II in a battle in Austria in 1945.

The following 18 nations from four Confederations attended in the new edition of the Korotkov Memorial Tournament: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Morocco, Moldova, Poland, host Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The safety of all participants, the continuous medical checks, the social distancing, the hygienic preparations, wearing masks and all of the health controls were the responsibility of the local organizers in Russia to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the Korotkov Memorial Tournament.

The bout of the day

Russia’s Ovik Oganisian was involved to the national team still in 2013 at the age of 21 and competed almost all levels of boxing including the World Series of Boxing. The experienced Russian moved up to the featherweight (57kg) and advanced to the final after his success over Kenya’s veteran Nicholas Okoth. Oganisian met with Azerbaijan’s Umid Rustamov for the gold medal but he had to do his very best in that crucial battle. The Azeri boxer returned to the international events in excellent condition but Oganisian was tactically better and bagged the gold medal of the category.

The surprise of the day

Belarus’ Aliaksei Alfiorau was bronze medallist at the Budapest 2018 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships but he is still a newcomer in the elite age group. He claimed gold medal at the Victory Day Tournament in Gomel earlier this month and travelled to Khabarovsk to increase his experiences. The 20-year-old Belarusian not only competed at the Korotkov Memorial Tournament but he advanced to the final of the light heavyweight (81kg) and stopped a more experienced boxer, Morocco’s Mohammed Assaghir.

The Round-Up

Natalia Shadrina is a well-experienced female boxer who has got ten years of experiences in the international competitions. She claimed mostly silver and bronze medals in the Russian Women’s National Championships and she decided to switch to Serbia and represented her new nation in the Balkan Boxing Championships first. Following that silver, she changed that into gold at the Korotkov Memorial Tournament where she was too experienced for Japan’s promising Rinka Tanaka.

Russia’s Galina Golovchenko returned to the sport in 2018 after a short break and she claimed medals in the international tournaments. She was involved to the Russian team at the Ulan-Ude 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The experienced boxer moved down to the welterweight (69kg) and she defeated a Tokyo Olympian, Dominican Republic’s Maria Moronta.

Russia’s second female gold medal was taken by Elena Gapeshina in the Korotkov Memorial Tournament. She has got also dozens of international contests as Golovchenko and shocked some of the world’s stars already in previous competitions. The Russian middleweight (75kg) boxer had a Japanese rival in final, Arisa Tsubata who progressed in all aspects of boxing in the recent two years. Gapeshina used the best fighting distance against the Japanese and won their final by unanimous decision.