Ashish Gurung defends his throne in the Hong Kong City Box Cup where Singapore’s national team bagged three titles

The Hong Kong City Box Cup was held in the recent week which was one the first main Asian event in the international boxing map in 2018. The competition was the fourth edition which was held for the men elite, women elite, men novice and youth boxers in Hong Kong. The host country’s Ashish Gurung defended his throne in the Hong Kong City Box Cup where Singapore’s elite boxers shined and won three weight classes.
Hong Kong Boxing Association gave chance for the region’s best boxers to raise their experiences in the competition. This is a new event in the Asian boxing map which was hosting by the Hong Kong Boxing Association only the third time after launching the competition two years ago in 2015.
Host of the competition Hong Kong could not get any gold medals on home soil 2016 but their boxers could raise their international experiences. Hong Kong’s top athletes did much better in 2017 and achieved two titles in the competition. In the new edition their boxers repeated that performance and won two gold medals in the Hong Kong City Box Cup.
Hong Kong’s first gold medal was achieved by Gurung Ashish at the novice bantamweight (56kg) where he was able to beat Macau’s Ng Man Lung. The 19-year-old boxer just joined to the elite level following his successful youth years and achieved his second title in the history of the Hong Kong City Cup. His teammate Kwok Tse Hong was too strong for Macau’s Cheong Wan Seng in the final of the novice welterweight (69kg) and achieved Hong Kong’s second gold in the event.
Their neighbouring Macau confirmed its participation at the second time and the small country sent three boxers to the event. One of them, their woman elite boxer, namely Kuo Sut San bagged the title at the lightweight (60kg) for Macau. China, Chinese Taipei, Australia and Singapore also sent boxers to the 2018 Hong Kong City Box Cup where four nations were able to get titles in the ten weight classes.
China’s Chen Zexin competed in several international events in the recent years therefore his success at the elite light flyweight (49kg) was not a surprise against Chinese Taipei’s FISU University World Boxing Championships silver medallist Tu Po Wei. The final verdict was 4:1 to Chen Zexin who achieved China’s first title in the Hong Kong City Box Cup.
China’s second gold medal was achieved by Li Jiazhao who claimed bronze medal in the Milan 2009 AIBA World Boxing Championships but he is still in the business. The experienced Chinese flyweight (52kg) boxer did enough in the final of the Hong Kong City Box Cup against Singapore’s Youth Olympian Mohamed Hanurdeen Bin Hamid.
Singapore’s elite boxing team has been preparing for the upcoming Asian Games and all of their five elite talents advanced to the finals in the Hong Kong City Cup. Among them Muhammad Hafiz defeated Chinese Taipei’s Mai Chi Hao, Tay Jia Wei was too strong for Australia’s Furkan Demirkaya before Leong Jun Hao defended his throne in Hong Kong. The experienced Leong used a strong tactic in the final of the welterweight (69kg) against the host country’s Lam Hon Ki which meant Singapore claimed three gold medals in the event.

Winners in the 4th Hong Kong City Cup
Women’s Elite 60kg: Kuo Sut San, Macau
Men’s Novice 56kg: Ashish Gurung, Hong Kong
Men’s Novice 69kg: Kwok Tse Hong, Hong Kong
Youth 52kg: Zhuo Zhiqiang, China
Elite 49kg: Chen Zexin, China
Elite 52kg: Li Jiazhao, China
Elite 56kg: Han Xu, China
Elite 60kg: Muhamed Hafiz, Singapore
Elite 64kg: Tay Jia Wei, Singapore
Elite 69kg: Leong Jun Hao, Singapore