Azerbaijan, Ireland, Russia, Türkiye and Ukraine shared the first six gold medals at the European Elite Boxing Championships in Sofia on Thursday, 24 September, with Russia claiming two titles during the evening session.
Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota faced Russia’s Iuliia Chumgalakova in the women’s 48kg final. Chumgalakova started strongly to take the lead on the scorecards. The Ukrainian southpaw increased the pressure in the second round, but Chumgalakova remained in control to secure the tournament’s first title with a 5:0 unanimous decision.
Ireland’s Lisa O’Rourke, the 2022 World Champion, continued her impressive campaign at women’s 80kg against Russia’s Anastasiia Demurchian. O’Rourke judged the distance well from the opening bell and maintained her focus throughout to claim gold with a 4:1 split decision.
Türkiye’s Havvanur Kethuda capped an impressive tournament by winning the women’s +80kg title. The teenager controlled the early exchanges against Russia’s Kseniia Olifirenko and did enough to secure gold in a closely contested final, winning by a 3:2 split decision.
Azerbaijan’s European U23 Champion Subhan Mamedov used his counter-attacking style effectively against Russia’s Bair Batlaev in the men’s 50kg final. Mamedov made good use of his reach to secure a 4:1 split decision and Azerbaijan’s first gold medal of the championships.
Ukraine’s Elvin Aliiev claimed the men’s 65kg title after his final against France’s World Boxing Cup winner Hugo Grau was stopped in the first round. An eyelid cut sustained by Grau in his semi-final reopened, prompting the referee to end the contest on medical advice. Aliiev was awarded victory by RSC-I, securing Ukraine’s first gold in Sofia.
France’s second finalist, European U23 Champion Junior Tadah, faced Russia’s Dmitrii Karmanov in the men’s 85kg final. Karmanov secured a 5:0 unanimous decision to deliver Russia’s second gold medal of the evening.
The remaining semi-finals also took place on Thursday. Hungary’s Vladislava Kukhta faced Ireland’s Michaela Walshin the women’s 57kg division after both had overcome strong opponents in the quarter-finals. Kukhta, a World Boxing Cup silver medallist, made a successful start to their tactical contest and maintained her advantage to reach the final with a 4:1 split decision.
Bulgaria’s Radoslav Rosenov had the home crowd behind him for his men’s 60kg semi-final against Spain’s Ewart Andres Marin Hernandez. Rosenov established a lead after two rounds and used his counter-attacking skills as Marin pressed forward in the third, securing his place in the final with a 4:1 split decision.
France’s Sthelyne Grosy, who defeated England’s former World Champion Amy Broadhurst in the quarter-finals, overcame Türkiye’s Gizem Ozer in the women’s 60kg semi-finals. Grosy led on four of the five judges’ scorecards after the opening round before Ozer increased the pressure. Despite the Turkish boxer’s efforts to turn the contest around, Grosy held on for a 3:2 split-decision victory.
Serbia’s European Champion Sara Cirkovic followed her quarter-final victory over Türkiye’s Olympic silver medallist Buse Naz Cakiroglu with another impressive performance against Russia’s Anastasiia Kool. Cirkovic used her long-range boxing effectively to reach the women’s 54kg final with a 5:0 unanimous decision.
Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja secured the other place in the women’s 54kg final after defeating the Czech Republic’s Lenka Bernardova. The Paris Olympic quarter-finalist faced a strong challenge in the second round but finished well to earn a 4:1 split decision, setting up a gold-medal contest against Cirkovic.
Today’s final session will take place at 17:00 local time and will include the remaining gold medal bouts and medal ceremonies. The schedule, live results and additional event information are available at bul.xboxing.world.
The entire competition will be livestreamed on https://eurovisionsport.com/en.
World Boxing will be posting updates throughout on its social media channels:
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Press release issued by European Boxing Federation and adapted by World Boxing.