ASBC Heroes – Tajikistan’s historical ASBC Asian Junior Champion Abdurakhim Yokubov

Tajikistan’s Abdurakhim Yokubov exceeded all of the previous expectations and won the bantamweight (54kg) at the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships in the United Arab Emirates. Abdurakhim Yokubov had less experiences than many of his opponents in the event and with his gold medal he was our ASBC Hero in 2019.

Abdurakhim Yokubov was born in Khudjand at the Sughd region of Tajikistan on May 20 in 2004 and began boxing at the age of 9. He arrived from a boxing family and his first international event was the Murataliev Schoolboys Memorial Tournament in Talas, Kyrgyzstan still in 2016 at the age of 12 where he claimed silver medal.

His next career highlight was the gold medal at the 2018 Usman Khalimov Memorial Tournament in Dushanbe where he defeated Tajikistan’s best schoolboy boxers with confidence. He joined to the junior age group in January 2019 and competed at the Uzbekistan International Junior Tournament and also at the Makanalin & Nokerbekov & Satenov Junior Memorial Tournament in Kazakhstan.

Abdurakhim Yokubov was selected to attend in the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships and spent more than two months in training camps to prepare well to the continental event. Yokubov eliminated Kuwait’s Omar Ahmad in the first preliminary round of the event in Fujairah, and continued his winning path against Bhutan’s Kinley winning the bout by RSC. He advanced to the final of the bantamweight (54kg) following his success over Iran’s lone medallist in Fujairah, Mohammad Parsi.

Abdurakhim Yokubov was finalist in the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships after three confident triumphs despite of his young age of 15. The Tajik bantamweight (54kg) boxer was still hungry for the further success and he looked highly motivated in the final of the event. Yokubov used his speed in the final against Kazakhstan’s favourite Nursultan Altynbek who has excellent technical skills as well. Yokubov kept Altynbek long successfully and became Tajikistan’s first ever ASBC Asian Junior Champion making history for his nation in Fujairah.

Following the Fujairah event, the Tajikistan Junior National Championships was held in the capital city of the country in Dushanbe which was a four-day long competition. Boxers who were born in 2003 and in 2004 were eligible to attend in the Tajikistan Junior National Championships. Abdurakhim Yokubov won the gold medal at the bantamweight (54kg) in the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships which was his career highlight but he suffered an unexpected loss in the national final against Doston Dodov.  Abdurakhim Yokubov trains in Khudjand with full speed in our present days and will be making his comeback at the Tajikistan Junior National Championships which is scheduled to be held in November.