Russia’s young Nune Asatrian eliminated Ireland’s AIBA Women’s World Champion Kellie Harrington at the Strandja Memorial Tournament
25 February 2021Following the marathon second competition day, two shorten session were held at the 72nd edition of the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria on Day3. Russia’s Nune Asatrian proved her impressive developments eliminating Ireland’s AIBA Women’s World Champion Kellie Harrington in Sofia.
The Strandja Memorial is Europe’s oldest international boxing tournament and has got a strong brand name therefore high number of stars compete there in the new edition. Altogether 220 boxers including 91 women athletes are attending from 30 nations at the 72nd edition of the Strandja Memorial Tournament.
The following 30 nations are attending in the Strandja Memorial Tournament: Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Mali, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America 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 are the responsibility of the local organizers in Sofia to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the Strandja Memorial Tournament.
The bout of the day
Armenia’s Gor Nersesyan was an inexperienced boxer when he has been involved to their team which attended at the 2018 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships in Roseto degli Abruzzi. Following his narrow loss in that youth continental event, the Armenian talent worked more in the training sessions and returned in different level at the Minsk 2019 European Games where he earned a bronze medal. He is now 20 and worked well against Kazakhstan’s Bauyrzhan Baygonshekov in the quarter-finals following his first success over India’s Sachin Kumar. The Caucasian boxer had the fighting spirit and the stamina to beat Baygonshekov in the tightest bout of the competition day.
The surprise of the day
Russia’s Armenian-descent Nune Asatrian achieved silver medals at the 2018 and 2019 editions of the EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships and she was also runner-up in the Budapest AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships two and half years ago. The currently 20-year-old Russian lost those finals to England’s native talent Caroline Dubois but these results have been motivated her to be the best at the women’s lightweight (60kg). The newly crowned Russian Elite National Champion had a tough opponent, Ireland’s AIBA Women’s World Champion Kellie Harrington but Asatrian proved impressive developments and eliminated her star rival.
The Round-up
The women’s lightweight (60kg) is a sensational category at the Strandja Memorial Tournament with several stars in the line-ups. Finland’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games bronze medallist Mira Potkonen was almost perfect in the international stage in the whole cycle and met with another veteran rival, Switzerland’s Sandra Brugger on Day3. Potkonen landed strong shots from each of the attacking position and advanced to the last eight such as Brazil’s defending AIBA Women’s World Champion Beatriz Ferreira.
Moldova’s Dmitri Galagot was silver medallist at the Minsk 2013 EUBC European Boxing Championships and after eight years of his career highlight, he proved his very best at the men’s welterweight (69kg) in Sofia. The 29-year-old Moldovan was highly confident against Bulgaria’s young Vensan Kirkorov and won all of the three rounds in each scorecard. Galagot advanced to the semi-finals of the event and will be meeting with Ukraine’s powerful Yevhenii Barabanov in the last four.
Ukraine’s top star Oleksandr Khyzhniak had more than 500 contests during his career and he is one of the biggest names in the whole Strandja Memorial Tournament. Ukraine’s pride was AIBA World Champion and EUBC European Champion in 2017 whilst he is also a titleholder in Bulgaria’s biggest international event. Khyzhniak has got fabulous condition which he demonstrated against Turkey’s Serhat Guler in Sofia, launching more than 40 attacks per round. The Ukrainian middleweight (75kg) boxer won the contest unanimously and will be boxing in the last four with Moldova’s Andrei Vreme.
Uzbekistan’s Asadkhudja Muydinkhudjayev will be turning to 20 only later this year but he is already such a strong boxer who could eliminate Brazil’s AIBA World Boxing Championships quarter-finalist Wanderson Oliveira at the lightweight (63kg). He had a virtuoso style of footwork with patient style which delivered a clear success for the Uzbek talent. His amazing teammates as Bobo-Usmon Baturov (69kg), Dilshodbek Ruzmetov (81kg) and defending AIBA World Champion Bakhodir Jalolov (+91kg) all won their contest by large margin of differences on Day3.
