The Kazakh girls produced a strong day at the Strandja Memorial Tournament
The second part of the quarter-finals were held at the 72nd edition of the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria where the four competition day saw impressive battles between several stars. Kazakhstan’s women boxers have done an impressive day in Sofia, almost all of them defeated their rivals.
Two sessions were in the schedule of the fourth competition day and nearly half of the weight categories were in action in Sofia. The new Strandja Memorial Tournament is the 72nd edition which made the event one of the most traditional competitions in the whole world. Following the general weigh-in, it is confirmed that 220 female and male boxers from 30 nations are attending in the Strandja Memorial Tournament.
Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, host Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Mali, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America and Uzbekistan are the participating nations in Sofia. Among the Asian countries, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan decided to send strong teams to the Strandja Memorial Tournament.
Kazakhstan’s Angelina Lukas defeated her top rivals at the flyweight (51kg) in 2019 and she received the right to attend at the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event. The 24-year-old Kazakh boxer was slightly better in the first round than Uzbekistan’s Tokyo Olympian Tursunoy Rakhimova and she continued her strong performance to beat her neighbouring rival in Sofia.
Kazakhstan’s AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Karina Ibragimova had to do her very best against Kosovo’s EUBC European Youth Champion Donjeta Sadiku but she managed to win that battle at the lightweight (60kg). Kazakhstan’s next girl, former AIBA Women’s Junior World Champion Nadezhda Ryabets is a Tokyo Olympian boxer who used her aggressive attacks and reduced to the fighting distance successfully against France’s Davina Michel.
Kazakhstan’s AIBA Women’s World Champion Valentina Khalzova returned after two years of break in the end of 2019 and she is even stronger every month. The 24-year-old welterweight (69kg) boxer was in different level than Ukraine’s former AIBA Women’s World Champion Maria Badulina-Bova. Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khamidova moved down to the welterweight (69kg) and following her impressive gold medal at the Kolchin U22 Memorial Tournament, she felt the rhythm in Sofia. She had a strong opponent but Khamidova controlled her battle against Armenia’s Ani Hovsepyan.
Uzbekistan’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games winner Shakhobiddin Zoirov was too smart for United States’ Anthony Herrera and will be meeting with India’s Deepak Kumar in the semi-finals of the flyweight (52kg). The Indian boxer eliminated Bulgaria’s Darislav Vasilev with larger margin of differences. Uzbekistan’s defending AIBA World Champion and two-time ASBC Asian Champion Bakhodir Jalolov used his longer hands to stop Turkey’s Berat Acar but he saved power for later actions at the super heavyweight (+91kg).
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