Lithuania’s Adomkevicius defended his throne in the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament
17 September 2018The ninth edition of the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament was held in Kaunas, Lithuania where 12 champions have been crowned. Among the titleholders Lithuania’s Gelmius Adomkevicius was the lone one who could defend his throne in Kaunas where seven nations shared on the gold medals.
Richardas Tamulis was Lithuania’s legendary boxer in the ’60s who claimed three gold medals as member of the Soviet national team in the European Boxing Championships in 1961, in 1963 and in 1965. Besides to his European titles Ricardas Tamulis achieved silver medal in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. Lithuania’s boxing icon won 243 out of his 257 bouts during his boxing career between 1953 and 1967.
Kaunas hosted also the Algirdas Socikas Tournament for the men elite age group this May which is also a traditional event in the European boxing map. The competition was held as main preparation before the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships which will be taking place in Anapa, Russia next month.
The first gold medal of the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament was achieved by Israel’s Maor Rusanov who attended in two editions of the EUBC European Confederation Schoolboys Boxing Championships in 2016 and in 2017. Rusanov joined to the junior age group this January but his skills were enough to win the final of the pinweight (46kg) after beating Belarus’ Kiril Levankou in Kaunas.
Israel surprisingly controlled the lowest weight classes in the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament in Kaunas where their second gold medal was captured by Emmanuel Shimunov at the light flyweight (48kg). Israel’s young talent was slightly better than Belarus’ experienced Ivan Razanau in the final which meant Shimunov won his first ever international tournament title.
Germany’s Sven Lange Junior Memorial Tournament winner Franklyn Dwomoh is member of the national team since 2016 and his experiences paid off in the final of the flyweight (50kg) against Belarus’ Raman Ziazulchyk. Sweden’s Alexander Fridriksson also attended in several international junior events and he was able to share his power better than Latvia’s Matvejs Prokudins in the final of the light bantamweight (52kg).
Ireland’s David Nevin and Estonia’s 15-year-old Matvei Starikov have done a superb job in the final of the bantamweight (54kg). The Estonian talent came from a boxing family as his father Albert was a world class boxer in the ’90s but Nevin was able to beat him by split decision in the bout of the finals.
Lithuania’s future hope in our sport Nedas Gudomskas attended two EUBC championships in the recent two years and impressed in the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament where he dominated his final against Lukas Simonavicius. Belarus’ junior talents claimed three silver medals in the event before Kanstantsin Haurylchyk took their first title beating Latvia’s Markus Tencs in Kaunas.
Lithuania’s second gold medal was achieved by Ruslanas Zalys at the light welterweight (63kg) where he knew the perfect tactic against Belarus’ Ruslan Adamonis. Wales’ Patrick Mullane claimed bronze medal in the Nations Junior Cup in Serbia last month which he changed into gold at the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament following his success over Lithuania’s Lukas Matukonis in the final of the welterweight (66kg).
Lithuania’s Aleksandr Trofimciuk took a superb silver medal in the 2017 EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships therefore the gold medal in the Richardas Tamulis Junior Tournament was a compulsory mission for the youngster. Lithuania won the highest two categories in the event the middleweight (75kg) and the heavyweight (80kg) after titleholder Gelmius Adomkevicius and Gabrielus Savickas claimed the final two gold medals in Kaunas.
