Kazakhstan is hunting for a title in the Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships

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Kazakhstan topped the team rankings in the Almaty 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships but their head coach Mr. Myrzagali Aitzhanov had to change almost all of his squad this year. In spite of the new faces in the national team, Kazakhstan was able to qualify maximum number of 10 boxers based on their performance in the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Tashkent.
Kazakhstan claimed two silver medals in the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships therefore their objective is clear, doing better job in Hamburg. Eight out of the ten boxers are newcomers and did not compete in any previous editions of the AIBA World Boxing Championships yet. Several of their boxers have got chances to make successful debut in the AIBA World Boxing Championships.
Rio 2016 Olympic Games silver medallist Vassiliy Levit is the most experienced boxer in the travelling team who is already three-time ASBC Asian Champion at the heavyweight (91kg) and has got great chance to get at least a medal in Hamburg. The 29-year-old boxer trained hard in the recent months to prove his best in the upcoming AIBA World Boxing Championships where he could be meeting once again with Russia’s Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Evgeny Tishchenko.
Kazakhstan’s bantamweight (56kg) No.1 is still AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Kairat Yeraliyev who competed also in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and in the last three editions of the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships. The 27-year-old boxer is also the same experienced as their No.1 Levit and has got realistic chance to win at least a medal in Hamburg.
Among the newcomers in the top team Rio 2016 Olympian and Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games winner Ablaikhan Zhussupov has got also enough experiences to beat anyone in the upcoming AIBA World Boxing Championships in Hamburg. Super talented Zhussupov is only 20 but his technician skills could be enough to beat the best boxers of the welterweight (69kg) in Hamburg.
Abilkhan Amankul won four top international youth tournaments in 2015 and he was named as the Best Asian Youth Boxers in that year. Following that he was joined to the elite squad the since then the middleweight (75kg) talent won almost all of his WSB contests as member of the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan franchise. Amankul was also born in 1997 as Zhussupov and he is also among Kazakhstan’s new sensations who is a medal hopeful at the middleweight (75kg) in Hamburg where his main rivals could be Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov and Cuba’s Arlen Lopez.
Kazakhstan’s next promising WSB star is Kamshybek Kunkabayev who is their new super heavyweight (+91kg) hope and replaced Ivan Dychko in the national squad. The 25-year-old boxer defeated Uzbekistan’s No.1 Bakhodir Jalolov in AOB and in WSB contests as well therefore he could be one of the favourite in the absence of Cuba’s Jose Angel Larduet and England’s Frazer Clarke.
Kazakhstan’s new light flyweight (49kg) boxer in the top team will be Yerzhan Zhomart who replaced three-time Olympian Birzhan Zhakypov in the line-ups and received a place for Hamburg from the Asian reserve list. National Champion Azamat Isakulov competed at the 2011 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Incheon, South Korea and after six years he claimed bronze medal in Tashkent.
Kazakhstan’s 26-year-old Yerik Alzhanov won the gold medal at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary in February and achieved bronze in the Thailand International Invitational Tournament in Bangkok this year but he is a newcomer at the light heavyweight (81kg). The team still contains two young National Champions such as 23-year-old Adilet Kurmetov and ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Tashkent-born Bekdaulet Ibragimov.

Kazakhstan’s team in the Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships:
Kazakhstan 49kg: Yerzhan Zhomart
Kazakhstan 52kg: Azamat Isakulov
Kazakhstan 56kg: Kairat Yeraliyev
Kazakhstan 60kg: Adilet Kurmetov
Kazakhstan 64kg: Bekdaulet Ibragimov
Kazakhstan 69kg: Ablaikhan Zhussupov
Kazakhstan 75kg: Abilkhan Amankul
Kazakhstan 81kg: Yerik Alzhanov
Kazakhstan 91kg: Vassiliy Levit
Kazakhstan +91kg: Kamshybek Kunkabayev