The young Italian trio as Sorrentino, Testa and Nicoli all won their finals at the Nations Women’s Cup
21 January 2020The second part of the finals was held in the sixth and lastcompetition day at the 9th edition of the Nations Women’s Cup in the city of Sombor, Serbia. The Italian boxers as Giordana Sorrentino, Irma Testa and Rebeca Nicoli are all impressed in their finals against strong opponents. The Russian boxers were the most successful in the youth part of the Nations Women’s Cup.
The first edition of the Nations Women’s Cup was taking place in Sombor eight years ago in 2012. The Olympic Qualification Events will be held in the months of February and March therefore the interest was higher for the preparation tournaments than in a non-Olympic year. Altogether 193 boxers from 25 countries attended in the new edition of the Nations Women’s Cup including new female boxing nations as Cyprus and Mali.
Bout of the day
Three top Italian boxers are aiming for a place in the national team at the women’s elite lightweight (60kg) which is an Olympic category. The youngest ones among the three boxers is strong Rebecca Nicoli who is gold medallist from the EUBC European U22 Boxing Championships. The Italian lightweight (60kg) boxer eliminated India’s 13-year-older Ramilal Pavitra in the key semi-final which was a tough fight for her. The 20-year-old Nicoli faced for the title with Slovakia’s EUBC European Youth Champion Jessica Triebelova who returned from an injury. The Slovakian moved up to this weight class and she impressed on your return but Nicoli’s aggressive style paid off in the bout of the sixth competition day.
Surprises of the day
Italy’s Giordana Sorrentino will be turning to 20 only later this year but she received the right to attend already at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude last October. The Italian teenager had great junior and youth results but she is inexperienced among the elite boxers yet. The promising Italian eliminated China’s Liu Jiaqi in the quarter-finals and defeated also Serbia’s Dajana Grmusa in the last four. The Italian bantamweight (54kg) boxer was not the favourite for the gold against India’s Strandja Memorial Tournament winner veteran Maisnam Meena Kumari Devi but she succeeded in the final.
Belarus’ Katsiaryna Kavaleva achieved bronze medal at the Ulan-Ude 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships but she switched to boxing from other martial arts only one year ago. The Belarusian heavyweight (+81kg) boxer survived the first difficult exchanges against Russia’s National Champion Kristina Tkacheva and found her best rhythm in time. Kavaleva used her height advantage successfully and her stamina was enough to beat her more experienced rival in Sombor.
The Round-Up
The first gold medal of the sixth and last competition day was achieved by Russia’s Azalia Amineva who looked still enough fresh in the final to beat her surprise opponent. The 17-year-old Russian claimed silver medal in the 2018 edition of the EUBC European Junior Boxing Championships and since that Anapa event, she moved up to the light welterweight (64kg). Amineva did not underestimate her final opponent Netherlands’ Luna Beeloo who had surprise successes over Serbia’s EUBC European Junior Boxing Championships silver medallist Nina Stajkovic and China’s Wang Xiaoyu. The Russian boxer kept her focus until the end of the final bell and defeated her promising Dutch rival.
Following China’s Wang Lin’s success over Russia’s Anastasia Kholueva, an exciting final battle was held at the youth middleweight (75kg). Russia’s Anna Kolupayeva arrived from the Volga District to show her developments in Sombor which was her first big international tournament. In spite of her low number of international fights the Russian boxer was enough skilled to beat Greece’s Vasiliki Stavridou in a hectic final bout. Her teammate Ksenia Olifirenko was too strong for Romania’s Petronela Schinte in the final of the youth light heavyweight (81kg).
England’s EUBC European Junior Champion Emily Asquith won also the gold medal at the light heavyweight (81kg) in the last edition of the EUBC European Women’s Youth Boxing Championships in Sofia on September 2019. The 17-year-old English girl moved up to the heavyweight (+81kg) but she was confident in the whole Nations Women’s Cup defeating Russian opponents in Sombor. Asquith worked from close distance against Russia’s Ekaterina Yachmeneva in the final and the referee confirmed her RSC victory in the third round following her lethal combinations.
Italy’s best female boxer defending EUBC European Women’s Champion Irma Testa used her height advantage against Kazakhstan’s Anzha Sadvakassova and marched also to the final of the featherweight (57kg). Her last opponent was Russia’s Karina Tazabekova who claimed silver medal in the 2019 EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships but at the bantamweight (54kg). The Italian star had to do her very best against the experienced Russian but Testa landed enough jabs to win their tough final.
