Bulgaria’s former World and European champion Stanimira Petrova made a winning return to the ring on day three of the European Elite Boxing Championships in Sofia, while England’s Elise Glynn and Croatia’s Sara Beram secured notable victories.
Competing for the first time since the Paris Olympic Games, Petrova found her rhythm in the second minute against Slovakia’s Bibiana Lovasova, using well-timed counter-punches to take the lead on the scorecards. A second-round knockdown helped the Bulgarian secure victory in front of her home crowd.
Italy’s Irma Testa, who also returned to international competition this year, held a narrow advantage after the opening round against England’s Elise Glynn in the women’s 57kg. However, Glynn responded well to instructions from her corner, using her speed and strong jabs to turn the contest around and eliminate one of the gold medal favourites.
Spain’s Marta Lopez del Arbol returned to the women’s 48kg and began strongly against Armenia’s Heghine Petrosyan. The Bocskai Memorial Tournament gold medallist landed well-timed jabs to establish a solid advantage after two rounds. Drawing on eight years of international experience, Lopez del Arbol controlled the contest to secure her place in the quarter-finals.
European champion Iulia Chumgalakova of Russia also advanced in the women’s 48kg, using her footwork to create attacking opportunities against Georgia’s Nino Chitadze. Her accurate jabs helped her secure victory, while Türkiye’s European U23 champion Nurselen Yalgettekin and Italy’s Chiara Mosetti also delivered impressive performances in the evening session.
Poland’s Agata Kaczmarska, who won the women’s 80kg+ world title last year, competed at 75kg with the Los Angeles Olympic Games in her sights. She controlled the distance against France’s Olympian Davina Michel in the opening round and maintained her strong performance in the second to progress to the quarter-finals.
Ireland’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jon McConnell rounded off the evening session with victory over Poland’s Damian Durkacz in the men’s 70kg.
Earlier, Croatia’s Sara Beram delivered one of the morning session’s standout results by defeating England’s Sacha Hickey in the women’s 65kg. Hickey, a European U23 champion who competed at the World Boxing Championshipsin Liverpool last year, was among the seeded contenders. However, Beram executed her coaches’ strategy effectively to eliminate the English boxer.
Türkiye’s former world champion Hatice Akbas competed at women’s 51kg against France’s European U22 champion Romane Moulai. Akbas used her longer reach to keep her opponent at distance in the opening round and continued to follow her corner’s tactical plan in the second.
France’s Olympic silver medallist Billal Bennama followed his opening victory with another demanding contest against Serbia’s Artur Nagapetjan. Bennama used his footwork to evade attacks and counter-punched effectively against his opponent. He advanced to the men’s 55kg quarter-finals, joining Russia’s Viacheslav Rogozin, Azerbaijan’s Amin Mammadzada and Kosovo’s Bashkim Bajoku.
Bulgaria’s Olympic bronze medallist Javier Ibanez also progressed in the men’s 55kg after defeating Italy’s Tommaso Sciacca. Ibanez held a narrow 3:2 lead on the judges’ scorecards after the opening round before increasing the tempo in the second and securing a convincing victory to delight the home crowd.
Two sessions will take place at 13:30 and 18:00 local time on Saturday. 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.
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Press release issued by European Boxing Federation and adapted by World Boxing.