The 15th Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament started with 12 bouts in Vilnius
10 March 2020The 15th edition of the traditional Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament started with its first competition day in Vilnius, Lithuania. India’s Laishram Bilotson Singh, Ukraine’s Vladyslav Hordiychuk, Lithuania’s Lukas Simonavicius and Poland’s Benjamin Zarzeczny were there among the winners of Day1.
The new edition of the Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament is one of the preparation events for the upcoming EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships which is scheduled to be held in Budva, Montenegro from April 23. Boxers who were born in 2002 and in 2003 are eligible to attend in the new Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament.
The competition was named after Lithuania’s national boxing hero Danas Pozniakas who claimed gold medal at the Mexico 1968 Olympic Games representing the Soviet Union and also crowned three-times in the history of the European Boxing Championships. During his long and successful career Lithuanian boxing icon Danas Pozniakas won 203 bouts out of his 217 total contests in the ’60s.
The bout of the day
India sent their best boxers to the Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament to Vilnius to increase the number of international fights of their talents. Laishram Bilotson Singh claimed silver medal in the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament in Serbia last July and arrived to Lithuania as one of the favourites of the bantamweight (56kg). The Indian talent met in the first day with Scotland’s Colin Cairney who has got also good records. Bilotson Singh and his Scottish opponent both landed enough punches in the first round but the Indian increased his rhythm in time to win their tough fight in Vilnius.
The surprise of the day
Vladyslav Hordiychuk competed only Ukrainian events in the recent three years and the Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament is his first big international challenge out of his country. The Ukrainian welterweight (69kg) boxer had to meet with India’s Harsh Choudhary in the first competition day in Vilnius. His Indian rival claimed silver medal already at the 2018 Nations Junior Cup in Serbia and had more experiences in the international level. Hordiychuk delivered smart boxing against the attacking Indian and eliminated Choudhary in Vilnius.
The Round-Up
Lithuania’s Lukas Simonavicius competed in the 2019 EUBC European Junior Boxing Championships in Romania and joined to the youth age group this January. The 16-year-old Lithuanian attends at the bantamweight (56kg) as youth boxer and opened his campaign successfully against Czech Republic’s Jan Krocil. The final verdict was unanimous decision in the favour of the Lithuanian boxer who won all of the rounds in each scorecard.
Poland’s Benjamin Zarzeczny attended international tournaments in Poland, in Hungary and in Serbia during his career and those experiences paid off in his debuting contest at the Danas Pozniakas Youth Tournament. Zarzeczny is spending his second year as youth and has got high expectations in the upcoming top events. The Polish boxer attacked several times successfully against Lithuania’s Einoras Sinkevicius and won their lightweight (60kg9 bout by large margin of differences.
Bozorboy Matyakubov has got Uzbek roots but he lives and represents Ukraine in the international events. The Ukrainian Junior National Champion moved up to the light welterweight (64kg) and he competes this year as youth boxer. The 16-year-old Ukrainian talent has got excellent footwork and he was technically better than Lithuania’s Ernest Markevic in the first day of boxing in Vilnius.
