Nepal and Turkmenistan earned their first ever medals in the World Championships
Nepal and Turkmenistan made historic results on the seventh competition day at the IBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Dubai.
Altogether 428 boxers are participating in the IBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Dubai for the 13 available gold medals.
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cambodia, IBA-China, IBA-India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are the 21 participating countries from the Asian continent.
Nepal’s Lal Prasad Upreti made a history in the fifth competition day when he became his nation’s first ever male boxer, who joined to the quarter-finals in a World Championship. Nepal’s No.1 had to face with Kazakhstan’s 37-year-old former World Champion and ASBC Asian Champion Temirtas Zhussupov in the quarter-finals. The veteran Kazakh moved forward and he overcame his opponent several times to beat him by unanimous decision.
Nepal’s second historic quarter-finalist, Chandra Bahadur Thapa had also an Asian opponent, the 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi, who claimed a bronze at the 2024 IBA Youth World Boxing Championships. The Nepali bantamweight (54kg) boxer started their important quarter-final better than the Iranian and he had the advantages of the scorecards. Thapa continued the same technician performance and strategy throughout the three rounds and he is Nepal’s first ever medallist in any World Boxing Championships.
Uzbekistan’s Asilbek Jalilov is the reigning ASBC Asian Elite Champion at the flyweight (51kg) but he moved up to the bantamweight (54kg) due to his star teammate, Hasanboy Dusmatov. The 22-year-old Uzbek had world-class footwork and defensive skills in the second and third rounds against Serbia’s ex-Russian Artur Nagapetjan which were decisive between them today.
Kazakhstan’s 2021 World Champion Saken Bibossynov used his counter-attacks well enough to beat Zambia’s strong Mwengo Mwale at the busy bantamweight (54kg) and he is a medallist in the World Championships for the third time. His teammate, the 2021 silver medallist Serik Temirzhanov was knocked down by Tajikistan’s reigning Asian Champion Akmal Ubaidov in the second round and the Kazakh lost this key lightweight (60kg) bout.
Uzbekistan’s star, Abdumalik Khalokov won all of the major championships during his career but the 25-year-old boxer is still hungry for the further titles. His maximalist attitude to the work was paid off once again in the quarter-finals of the lightweight (60kg) in Dubai where he had the clean success over Azerbaijan’s Mahammadali Ashiraliyev.
The next Uzbek defending World Champion, Asadkhudja Muydinkhujaev also marched to the semi-finals phase of the event, he eliminated Kazakhstan’s Sanatali Toltayev at the welterweight (67kg). His teammate, the Youth World Champion Fazliddin Erkinboyev defeated the ex-Uzbek Saidjamshid Jafarov of Azerbaijan once this year and he repeated that performance on their re-match in Dubai.
Uzbekistan’s No.1 super heavyweight (+92kg) boxer this year was Jakhongir Zokirov, a multiple Asian Champion in several age groups. He was replaced by the 22-year-old Arman Makhanov in Dubai who caused one of the sensations on Day7 when he won two out of the three rounds and the entire quarter-final against Cuba’s 2023 World silver medallist Fernando Arzola.
Uzbekistan’s next ace, Hasanboy Dusmatov eliminated Tajikistan’s 19-year-old Meroj Sufijonov in a fantastic battle which was one of the top contests of the evening session. Kazakhstan’s ASBC Asian Championships silver medallist Orazbek Assylkulov also continued his wining path, he eliminated Spain’s Carlos Martinez while Uzbekistan’s newcomer, Khujanazar Nortojiyev also joined the semi-finals at the featherweight (57kg).
Turkmenistan’s Asian Games bronze medallist Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov invested a lot of energies to the next stage of level and he had a strong game plan against Spain’s Frank Martinez at the light middleweight (71kg). Turkmenistan’s No.1 moved forward without any stoppage to catch the Spaniard with heavy shots and he delivered the next historic result, a medal for his nation.
Don’t forget you can keep up with all of the action, news, results and photos by following ASBC on Facebook and Instagram.
ASBC website: www.asbcnews.org
ASBC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASBC.Official/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/
ASBC Twitter page: https://twitter.com/ASBC_official