France, Czech Republic, Austria and Poland shared the gold medals at the 29th Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament
27 September 2020The eleven finals were held in the third day at the 29th edition of the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament in the capital city of the Czech Republic in Prague. France, host Czech Republic, Austria and Poland shared the gold medals in the event which was a preparation before the planning EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships. France’s Sthelyne Grosy, Czech Republic’s Milos Beranek and Austria’s Khamzat Saidoulaev proved the best performances in the last day of boxing.
Their legend, Mr. Julius Torma was a Hungarian-descent boxer who was born in Budapest in 1922 but competed for Czechoslovakia in the international competitions in the 1940s and 1950s. He claimed a gold medal in the London 1948 Olympic Games at the welterweight (67kg) and attended also in the 1952 Helsinki and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics with successes. Torma was gold medallist in the Oslo 1949 European Boxing Championships and claimed further bronze medals in the in the Dublin 1947 and in West Berlin 1955 editions.
The safety of all participants, the continuous medical checks, the social distancing, the hygienic preparations, wearing masks and all of the controls were the responsibility of the local organizers in Prague to avoid any Covid-19 cases in the event. The Technical Delegate of the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament Mr. Adam Kusior of Poland controlled the event’s success in Prague.
Bout of the day
France’s Euro Cup silver medallist Matheo Rousseau eliminated Croatia’s Alen Ahmetovic in the semi-finals of the men’s lightweight (60kg) in Prague which was a top scalp from the youngster. The French talent had to face with Slovakia’s lone finalist in Prague, Adolf Stanek who won two contests within two days in the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament. Rousseau found the best fighting distance in time against the promising Slovakian and claimed his first international tournament title. The final verdict was split decision (3:2) in the favour of Matheo Rousseau who hopes to attend in the EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships.
The surprise of the day
Artem Hafiyak, who claimed gold and silver medals in the recent two editions of the Czech Youth National Championships, won two contests before his final in Prague. The 18-year-old Hafiyak won his semi-final by RSC but he had to meet for the gold medal with France’s Junior National Champion Voldy Toutin who proved strong progress in all aspects of boxing. The Czech boxer exceeded the expectations once again and defeated his French opponent in the final of the light heavyweight (81kg).
The Round-up
France’s most experienced female youth team member Sthelyne Grosy attended several youth events in 2019 including at the Sofia EUBC European Youth Boxing Championships. The 18-year-old featherweight (57kg) talent returned to the international stage in the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament and defeated Czech Republic’s Natalie Kozubikova in the first final of the event.
Poland’s Alexas Kubicki won the title of the youth flyweight (51kg) at the Silesian Open Women’s Tournament three weeks ago where she defeated Czech Republic’s Veronika Zajicova in the final. The two boxers advanced to the finals of the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament as well and have done a re-match in Prague. The Polish boxer repeated her previous performance and defeated her Czech opponent second time within one month.
Czech Republic’s Claudie Totova had several international events in the recent years but she had a tough rival in the final of the women’s bantamweight (54kg). France’s Zoe Couvercelle was competitive for her but could not stop the Czech attacks in Prague successfully. Following Totova’s gold medal, another Czech girl Kristyna Vaclavikova impressed in the day of the finals and defeated France’s Sabrina Belkhadra unanimously in the final of the light welterweight (64kg).
France’s Romain Goreini had a narrow success over Croatia’s Deni Alagic in the final of the bantamweight (56kg) before Rousseau’s gold medal. After the French triumphs, two Czech boxers claimed the gold medals in the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament. Firstly, Kelvin Sequasa defeated Austria’s Dzhabrail Elsanov in the final of the light welterweight (64kg), secondly his teammate Milos Beranek was too experienced to Ondrej Horvath at the welterweight (69kg). The heavyweight (91kg) gold medal was captured by Austria’s No.1 Khamzat Saidoulaev in the Julius Torma Youth Memorial Tournament.
