Kazakhstan, China dominate women’s division of inaugural Elorda Cup

Host nation Kazakhstan copped the most number of gold medals while China came in second in the women’s division of the 1st Elorda Cup held recently in the capital city of Nur-Sultan.

The Kazakh female fighters snared five golds courtesy of former world champion Valentina Khalzova, Zhaina Shekerbekova, Marina Volnova, Karina Ibragimova and  Natalia Bogdanova.

AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2016 gold medalist and 2022 bronze winner Khalzova crushed Yuan Haini of China, 5-0, to reign supreme in the light middleweight (70kg) division.

World silver and two-time bronze finisher Shekerbekova subdued Uzbekistan’s Feruza Kazakova, 5-0, in flyweight (52kg) while fellow world silver winner and former Asian titlist Volnova trounced China’s Zhou Pan, 5-0, in middleweight (75kg).

Two-time world bronze medalist Ibragimova maximized her reach advantage to score a 5-0 victory against Uzbekistan’s Asian champion Sitora Turdibekova in featherweight (57kg) even as Bogdanova came through with a 4-1 stunner over China’s world silver medalist Yang Liu in welterweight (66kg).

China copped three golds in the new international tournament through 2020 Cologne World Cup winner Yang Chengyu (light welter-63kg), Yang Wenlu (light-60kg) and Zheng Lu (light heavy-81kg).

Meanwhile, reigning youth world champs Gitika (minimum-48kg) and Alfiya Pathan (heavy-+81kg) seized the golds for India while Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Tsukimi Namiki (light fly-50kg) won the gold for Japan and youth world titlist Nigina Uktamova (bantam-54kg) delivered for Uzbekistan.

All gold medalists earned 700 USD even as silver and bronze finishers received 400 USD and 200 USD, respectively, in the tourney organized by the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation and attended by other formidable national teams from Cuba, Mongolia and Central Asia.

List of champions in the women’s division of the 1st Elorda Cup

48kg: Gitika, India

50kg: Tsukimi Namiki, Japan

52kg: Zhaina Shekerbekova, Kazakhstan

54kg: Nigina Uktamova, Uzbekistan

57kg: Karina Ibragimova, Kazakhstan

60kg: Yang Wenlu, China

63kg: Yang Chengyu, China

66kg: Natalia Bogdanova, Kazakhstan

70kg: Valentina Khalzova, Kazakhstan

75kg: Marina Volnova, Kazakhstan

81kg: Zheng Lu, China +81kg: Alfiya Tarannum Akram Khan Pathan, India

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.Boxing/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/
ASBC Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BoxingAsian?s=08