Strong Olympic traditions – Kazakhstan is the only nation in the world which earned boxing gold medals in each Olympics between 1996 and 2016

Kazakhstan is one of the boxing powers in the whole world and their Olympic history proves their impressive successes. Kazakhstan is the only boxing nation in the globe which produced gold medals in each of the Olympic Games between 1996 and 2016. Kazakhstan’s nine qualified boxers for Tokyo are all experienced and claimed medals in big championships.

Kazakhstan could send a few boxers to the Olympic Games by the time of the Soviet Union, among them Serik Konakbayev, Viktor Demyanenko and Aleksandr Miroshnichenko claimed medals in 1980 and the latter in 1988. The independent Kazakhstan produced altogether 22 medals between 1996 and 2016.

Kazakhstan is No.10 in the current Olympic boxing medal table with seven gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals in spite of the fact their boxers could represent the independent country only six editions from 1996 until 2016. Their first Olympic gold medal was taken by Vasiliy Zhirov at the light heavyweight (81kg) in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

Kazakhstan dominated the welterweight between in the Olympic Games between 2004 and 2016 making an amazing record in that category. Bakhtiyar Artayev, Bakhyt Sarsekbayev, Serik Sapiyev and Daniyar Yeleussinov each won the gold medals at the welterweight in the recent four editions of the Olympic Games. Kazakhstan’s recent star, Daniyar Yeleussinov won the gold medal at the welterweight (69kg) in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and became the fourth-in-a-row from his strong nation who could win the title in this category.

Kazakhstan qualified male boxers in all of the eight weight categories from the flyweight (52kg) up to the super heavyweight (+91kg). All of them earned their spots in the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event in Amman, Jordan on March 2020. Among the qualified boxers Ablaikhan Zhussupov (69kg) and Vasiliy Levit (91kg) have got Olympic experiences from Rio de Janeiro.

Saken Bibossynov (52kg), Ablaikhan Zhussupov (69kg), Abilkhan Amankul (75kg), Bekzad Nurdauletov (81kg), Vasiliy Levit (91kg) and Kamshybek Kunkabayev (+91kg) all claimed medals in the Hamburg 2017 or in the Yekaterinburg 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Nurdauletov was gold medallist in the 2019 event and he is one of the biggest hopes to take the title of the light heavyweight (81kg) in Tokyo.

Vasiliy Levit achieved silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, he has got three Asian titles, bronze medals from the AIBA World Boxing Championships and he is the most experienced boxer at the heavyweight (91kg). Ablaikhan Zhussupov and Abilkhan Amankul have got all of the experiences to do big things in Tokyo while silver boy Kunkabayev is planning to make surprises. Serik Temirzhanov (57kg) and Zakir Safiullin (63kg) are also their team members in Tokyo joining to the lone girl in the team, ASBC Asian Women’s Youth Champion Nadezhda Ryabets.

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