The defending AIBA World Champion Saken Bibossynov eliminated his young teammate in the best bout of the first day in Phuket
Following the Official Opening Ceremony, the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament started with its 13 contests in Phuket today. Saken Bibossynov is the defending AIBA World Champion at the flyweight who eliminated his teammate, Youth World Champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay in the first preliminary round.
Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Italy, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are attending in the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament. Mrs. Karina Picson of the Philippines is the Technical Delegate of the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Phuket.
The Angsana Convention Hall is the venue of the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament. Altogether 130 elite boxers are attending in the Thailand Open including 74 male and 56 female athletes in Phuket.
The Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament is a preparation event before the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships and EUBC European Elite Boxing Championships.
Saken Bibossynov eliminated his young Kazakh rival in the opening bout
As the official draw was blind, the defending AIBA World Champion of the flyweight, Saken Bibossynov of Kazakhstan had to open his campaign for the last eight with his teammate, AIBA Youth World Champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay. The older Bibossynov tried to rule the middle of the ring in the first round but his 18-year-old rival was a hard target and used smart style of boxing. Both boxers are southpaw and had beautiful technical skills using the main strengths of the Kazakh hopes, the strong strategical knowledge in the first round. Tashkenbay had to go to the medical corner in the second round twice but he was able to continue the fight despite of the fact he received strong punches from Bibossynov. The 25-year-old AIBA World Champion was highly confident in the third round against his teenage rival and eliminated Tashkenbay.
Serik Temirzhanov eliminated his veteran Filipino rival
Kazakhstan’s Serik Temirzhanov achieved silver medal in the Belgrade 2021 AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships which is his career highlight until today. The Tokyo Olympian Kazakh is one of the main favourites for the gold medal at the featherweight in Phuket and he found his best rhythm in the second minute against Philippines’ veteran Mario Fernandez. Temirzhanov, who trains with coach Mr. Azamat Makazhanov in Pavlodar, caught the Filipino boxer with tough combinations in the end of the first round. Fernandez did not box in the recent two years and the ring experiences were decisive between them today. Temirzhanov won their contest by unanimous decision in Phuket and marched to the quarter-finals in the Thailand Open.
Ian Clark Bautista won the next preliminary contest at the featherweight
Following Mario Fernandez’s loss at the featherweight, the second Filipino boxer, Ian Clark Bautista was in action in the next bout in Phuket. He opened the first round with aggressive attacks against Chinese Taipei’s Lee Cheng Wei who is very inexperienced in the international stage yet. Lee adopted the rhythm of the contest but Bautista landed the stronger punches in their preliminary contest. Bautista achieved his first career highlight, a gold medal at the 2013 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships and he is now such experienced boxer which he proved in this contest. The taller boxer from Chinese Taipei was not able to find Bautista’s weak points therefore the Filipino won the contest by unanimous decision.
Thailand’s Peerapat Yeasungnoen won a narrow contest at the middleweight
Thailand’s first boxer in action was Peerapat Yeasungnoen, their bronze medallist from the Budapest 2018 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. He strengthened his physical skills in the recent years and proved good performance in the last AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships. The Thai middleweight boxer had to meet with Chinese Taipei’s Kan Chia Wei who joined to their national team in 2016. Yeasungnoen had nice shots in the second round but Kan also landed a powerful body punch in that period. The Thai boxer did not deliver his best ever performance but his efforts were enough to win their preliminary contest in Phuket.
Villegas won the first female contest of the Thailand Open
Philippines’ Aira Villegas moved back from the bantamweight to the flyweight in the recent months and returned to the international stage after a break. The Filipino boxer met with Indonesia’s Novita Sinadia in the first female contest of the whole Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament. The Filipino southpaw moved more on feet in the second round and she was quicker in the exchanges in comparison to the first three minutes. Villegas kept her smaller Indonesian opponent on long and she worked well enough to win their contest by unanimous decision. The second female contest in this weight class was won by Thailand’s Olympic Games quarter-finalist Jutamas Jitpong who eliminated India’s Minakshi in a close contest.
Italy’s Giordana Sorrentino started with a success over her Singaporean opponent
Italy arrived to the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament with a strong female team and their flyweight boxer, Giordana Sorrentino was Tokyo Olympian at the age of 21. The Italian talent is relatively small in this category but she has excellent speed to catch her opponents. She met first with Singapore’s Wann Chee Wai Kei who proved impressive developments and she was competitive in the opening round. The Italian southpaw waited for the best attacking moments and used her great footwork and overcame her inexperienced Singaporean opponent. Wann attended in the 2019 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships last in the international stage and despite of her loss, she had good performance in Phuket today.
Vietnam’s first success was achieved by Tran Duc Tho
Nepal hosted a National Selection Tournament in Lalitpur before the start of the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament and their Bhupendra Thapa won his new weight category in that event. Thapa is an experienced boxer who tried to reduce the fighting distance against Vietnam’s Tran Duc Tho in the first bout of the second session. The Vietnamese boxer was taller and the strong Nepali hope who lost nearly four kilograms of weight to find the best category for himself. Tran was smarter in the second part of their contest and marched into the next stage of boxing in Phuket.
Thailand’s Atichai Phoemsap eliminated his Vietnamese opponent
Thailand’s Atichai Phoemsap won all of three major championships in the youth age group in 2018: The Youth Olympic Games, the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and the ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships. The Thai welterweight boxer has brilliant technical skills but he proved his strength in the first round too when the referee had to count his Vietnamese opponent, Tran Duc Tho. Phoemsap proved his very best in the second round when he worked from longer distance and used his tricky style of boxing. The Thai hope was better in all aspects of boxing but the Vietnamese national team member had a few good jabs in their contest too. His teammate, Bunjong Sinsiri spent short time in the ring, he knocked out Cambodia’s Sophors Vy in the second round.
Saroha Tua Lumbantobing stopped his rival on Day1
Palestine sent two boxers to the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament with their coach Mr. Nader Jayousi. Ahmed Harara is a veteran boxer but he keeps his focus on this year’s Asian Games and the Thailand Open is a step for him on this road. The Palestinian welterweight boxer was competitive against Indonesia’s National Games winner Saroha Tua Lumbantobing in the first round but his opponent turned up the heat in the second. The 25-year-old Indonesian landed lethal shots in the second round and following Harara’s eye injury, the ringside doctor stopped the contest.
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