Uzbekistan’s young talents claimed six medals in the 7th Balkan Women’s Tournament
Most of the Uzbek women’s elite team members are in the U22 age group therefore their future looks bright and their mission is to reach the level of the male boxers. Uzbekistan’s young female boxers attended in the 7th edition of the Balkan Women’s Tournament which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Uzbek female team claimed altogether six medals in the Balkan Women’s Tournament.
Uzbekistan Boxing Federation decided to send 10 girls to the Balkan Women’s Tournament which is one of the strongest female competitions in the European continent. Their women boxers developed rapidly in the recent two years and former two-time Asian Games winner Mr. Elshod Rasulov works hard to increase their boxing level.
Host Bulgaria, Chile, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Uzbekistan and Wales sent boxers to the 7th Balkan Women’s Tournament. Italy topped the medal standings with four gold medals ahead of Bulgaria and Russia. Altogether 61 elite female boxer competed in the event which is a preparation for the upcoming AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The global female event will be held in Istanbul, Turkey in the first part of December still in 2021.
Uzbekistan’s lone finalist in the event was a 19-year-old talent, Khadijabonu Abdullaeva who claimed bronze medal in the Kielce 2021 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. The Uzbek welterweight (66kg) teenager advanced to the final after nice success over Norway’s Madeleine Angelsen, but in the final the six-years-older Welsh star, Rosie Eccles was stronger than her. Abdullaeva’s silver medal was the best Uzbek performance in the Balkan Women’s Tournament.
Gulasal Sultonalieva proved impressive developments in the recent years and she is gaining to attend in her third AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The 22-year-old light flyweight (48kg) boxer bagged bronze medal in Sofia and lost to only the eventual winner Russian, Alena Artemova in a tight semi-final. Tokyo Olympian Tursunoy Rakhimova had an even closer semi-final than Sultonalieva, the Italian gold medallist Olena Savchuk defeated her by split decision.
ASBC Asian Boxing Championships silver medallist Sitora Shogdarova also earned bronze in Sofia where she defeated a more experienced opponent but lost to Italy’s EUBC European U22 Champion Sirine Charaabi at the bantamweight (54kg). ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships bronze medallist 19-year-old Marzhona Savriyeva (50kg) and another teenager, Sokhiba Ruzmetova (75kg) were their next boxers who reached the semi-finals. ASBC Asian Champion 19-year-old Sitora Turdibekova (57kg) lost her quarter-final bout against Romania’s Tokyo Olympic Games quarter-finalist Claudia Nechita.
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