Russia, Belarus, France and Hungary claimed gold medals in the FISU University World Boxing Championships

The last competition day was held in the FISU University World Boxing Championships in Elista where 13 champions have been crowned. Eight European boxers claimed the gold medals out of the possible thirteen in Elista. Belarus, France, Hungary and Russia were the nations from the European continent which took at least one title.

Elista is located in the Southern part of the Russian Federation, it is the capital city of the Republic of Kalmykia. The FISU University World Boxing Championships holds every two years, the last edition was hosted by the city of Chiang Mai in Thailand in 2016. In the new edition 110 women and men boxers competed for the 13 gold medals of the FISU University World Boxing Championships.

France’s EUBC European Confederation Women’s Boxing Championships bronze medallist Wassila Lkhadiri eliminated her top rival Armenia’s Anush Grigoryan in the semi-final of the women’s flyweight (51kg) and continued her winning path in Elista. The 23-year-old French talent had more experiences in the international stage than Russia’s Geliusa Galieva and won their final in each scorecard.

Ornella Kheteyeva is not the best Russian boxer at the women’s lightweight (60kg) but her skills are in continuous developing stage. She claimed medals in several international events in Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries in the recent one year. The Russian boxer, who moved down one category to compete at the lightweight (60kg), proved better performance in the final after her difficult semi-final and defeated France’s Amina Zidani in Elista.

Russia’s Umakhanov Memorial Tournament winner Edmond Khudoyan survived one his hard fights at the quarter-final of the men’s light flyweight (49kg) but since then his pathway was clear to the final success. The 22-year-old Khudoyan dominated the bout against Japan’s newcomer Yudai Shigeoka and celebrated his title after the last gong securing Russia’s second title in the FISU University World Boxing Championships.

Belarus’ Rio 2016 Olympian and EUBC European U22 Champion Dzmitry Asanau turned to 22 this year and arrived to Elista as a gold medal contender. The Belarusian lightweight (60kg) used his counter-attacking style against Russia’s EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships silver medallist Gabil Mamedov in the final which was uncomfortable for the host nation’s boxer. Asanau kept the best fighting distance successfully in each round and won his next big title in Elista.

Russia’s Alisa Sharifov achieved silver medal in the last edition of the FISU University World Boxing Championships in Chiang Mai therefore he was more concentrated in his second final in Elista where he triumphed over Hungary’s Richard Kovacs at the light welterweight (64kg). Sharifov’s teammate Vadim Tukov is not a well-known Russian boxer but he impressed in the final of the middleweight (75kg) against Belarus’ EUBC European Confederation U22 Boxing Championships silver medallist Viktar Dziashkevich.

Following Richard Kovacs’s silver Hungary’s second finalist in the FISU University World Boxing Championships was former EUBC European Junior Champion Adam Hamori who knew his opponent Armenia’s Henrik Sargsyan well from the 2013 EUBC European Confederation Youth Boxing Championships. In that event five years ago Hamori defeated the Armenian and the 23-year-old Hungarian heavyweight (91kg) boxer repeated that performance in Elista as well winning his first big elite title during his career.

Russia has got strong boxers at the men’s super heavyweight (+91kg) and one of their new hopes Pavel Doroshilov did not give any chance to his opponents during the FISU University World Boxing Championships. The powerful Russian landed the better punches against Armenia’s EUBC European Confederation Youth Boxing Championships silver medallist Gurgen Hovhannisyan and won his nation’s fifth gold medal in Elista.