NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh athletes won two gold, two silver and six bronze medals on the final day of the 2019 Asian Boxing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
L-R: Zakir Safiullin and Tsendbataar Erdenebat. Photo credit: olympic.kz.
Several male athletes qualified for the final round. Zakir Safiullin (60 kilogrammes) bagged a silver medal, losing to Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (Mongolia); Tursynbai Kulakhmet (75 kilogrammes) won gold in his fight with Ashish Kumar (India); Bek Nurmaganbet (81 kilogrammes) took the gold against John Marvin (Philippines) and Kamshybek Kunkabayev (91+ kilogrammes) received silver in his fight with Bakhodil Zhalolov (Uzbekistan).
Temirtas Zhussupov (49 kilogrammes), who took the bronze despite being unable to participate in the semi-finals due to a face injury, was one of the tournament’s major surprises. As Kazakhstan’s five-time champion, he was one of the frontrunners in his category, reported the SportsKz website.
First-time participant 19-year-old Sanatali Toltayev (64 kilogrammes) also secured a bronze medal, losing to Bakhodir Usmonov (Tajikistan). Vasily Levit (91+ kilogrammes) received the bronze after losing in the semi-finals to Kim Hyeongkyu (South Korea), who subsequently won gold in the final.
Anvar Muzaparov (52 kilogrammes) did not qualify for the semi-finals due to an injury, losing to Azat Usenaliyev (Kyrgyzstan).
None of Kazakhstan’s women boxers were able to qualify for the final round, losing their semi-finals fights and receiving four bronze medals. Milana Safronova (64 kilogrammes) lost to Dan Dou (China), Dariga Shakimova (69 kilogrammes) lost to Nien-Chin Chen from (Taiwan), Fariza Sholtay (81 kilogrammes) lost to Pooja Rani (India) and Lyazzat Kungeibayeva (81+ kilogrammes) lost to Yang Xiaoli (China).
The Asian Boxing Championship is the region’s most important amateur boxing competition. This year’s championship introduced the Bout Review Process for contentious decisions, which aims to streamline judging by providing athletes and their coaches with an opportunity to dispute decisions using slow-motion video technology.
