Strong US performance in the second day at the Brasov Junior & Youth Open
25 February 2022Thirty-eight tough contests features in the second competition day at the first edition of the Brasov Youth & Junior Open in Romania. The Greek team performed strongly in the second day of boxing while the US boxers remained unbeaten in the session.
More than 20 countries are attending in the first Brasov Junior & Youth Open from four Confederations, including non-European teams as United States, Egypt and Bahrain. The number of the participating boxers is 220 in the Brasov Open which is preparation event before the main championships.
The venue of the new international competition will be the Polivalenta Hall in Brasov where boxers from the 2004-2005 age groups can attend in the youth age group, while the younger talents who were born in 2006 and in 2007, can compete in the junior competition.
The safety of all participants, the continuous medical checks, the social distancing, the hygienic preparations, wearing masks, the vaccines check and all of the health controls are the responsibility of the local organizers in Romania avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the first edition of the 2022 Brasov Junior & Youth Cup.
The bout of the day
Romania’s Alex Herteg claimed silver medal in the 2021 Romanian Junior National Championships and joined to the youth age group this January. He arrived to Brasov in top shape and proved his excellent technical skills and fighting spirit in the recent two competition days. He had a well-experienced opponent, Greece’s Georgios Efthimiadis in the session and the Romanian prepared with a strong strategy in Brasov. The Greek boxer was highly competitive and made lot of risks but Herteg handled all of the challenges and eliminated a top rival at the youth light welterweight (63.5kg).
The Round-up
Czech Republic’s Julie Polednikova competed in several junior events in 2021 and attended also in the Confederation Championships in Tbilisi. The 16-year-old Czech girl is still in the junior age group and she was more experienced than Greece’s Lanprini Giannakopoulou who came from a boxing family too. Polednikova attacked from the first round and she landed more punches which paid off during the confirmation of the results of the bout. The Czech talent will be boxing with Cyprus’ defending EUBC European Junior Champion Laila Abdullatif in the semi-finals of the light bantamweight (52kg).
Another strong junior female boxer, Spain’s Noelia Gutierrez also impressed in the second competition day at the Brasov Youth & Junior Open. The Spaniard achieved silver medal at the Tbilisi 2021 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships and she is still in this age group as she was born in 2006. Gutierrez was too experienced for Romania’s Ionela Mihaela Eremia in the quarter-final and will be meeting in the last four with Hungary’s Sara Nyogeri who claimed silver medal at the Nations Women’s Cup this January.
Greece’s Eleni Cholidi is a well-known boxer in the international stage, she attended in various competitions in the recent period. The Greek girl competes in the youth age group now and moved up to the flyweight (52kg) where she impressed in the second day of boxing. Cholidi controlled all of the three rounds against Romania’s Ioana Beatrice Obedea and advanced to the next round. United States’ El Sarai Brown and Spain’s Maria Mairena Aragon defeated their Hungarian and Romanian rivals in the same weight class.
Greece’s Konstantinos Sarigiannos had to meet with Cyprus’ Spyros Velios in the junior flyweight (50kg) and managed to win their contest in Brasov. Latvia’s Nikita Golenkovs gave in everything to his contest in the same weight and due to his great run in the final round, he was able to beat Romania’s David Miloday. France’s Sandro Spica, Hungary’s Daniel Frank, Greece’s Georgios Pleas and United States’ Elijah Lugo all proved their strong skills in the junior age group.
Spain’s Enrique Kakulov switched from other martial arts to boxing two years ago and he earned gold medal in the 2021 Boxam Youth Tournament last November. The Spaniard controlled most of the exchanges against Hungary’s Robert Csiki and advanced to the next round at the light welterweight (63.5kg). In another bout of this weight class, Belgium’s Vasken Ghayenian worked hard in all of the three rounds to beat Romania’s Ionut Roman proving his development.
