Brilliant Kazakh youth talents won their openers at the Mustafa Hajrulahovic Memorial Tournament
The 21st edition of the Mustafa Hajrulahovic Memorial Tournament opened in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina which is one of the last preparation competitions before the start of the Asian Games. The Kazakh youth boxers and the Indian elite hopes shined in the first and second sessions of the international tournament.
Afghanistan, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Palestine, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden are the participating nations in the Hajrulahovic Memorial. Kazakhstan sent its best youth line-ups to Sarajevo while the Palestinians use the event as active preparations.
The competition holds for the women’s elite, women’s youth, men’s elite and men’s youth boxers are able to participate in the Bosnian & Herzegovian capital. The tournament was held at the Dom Mladih Skenderija Sports Centre in the recent years but the venue moved to the Hotel Hills Sarajevo Congress & Termal Spa Resort.
Division General Mustafa Hajrulahovic Talijan was Bosnia & Herzegovina’s commander and hero in the end of the last century and a new boxing tournament was named after him which shows his excellent popularity in Sarajevo.
India’s Akash Kumar had strong pedigree from the past and he had the skills to beat Palestine’s 19-year-old Wasim Abusal at the men’s featherweight (57kg) which is one of the strongest categories in Sarajevo.
Kazakhstan’s Youth World Championships silver medallist Daulet Tulemissov had a strong ex-Russian rival, Austria’s Saifullah Saidoulaev but the 18-year-old boxer managed to win their light heavyweight (80kg) contest in the Bosnian & Herzegovian capital.
Kazakhstan’s next youth boxer, the ASBC Schoolboys medallist Viktor Litvinov moved up to the cruiserweight (86kg) but he had the strength and the decisive punches to beat Kosovo’s Arnis Dautaj in the opening session of the tournament.
Kazakhstan’s Nurbek Mursal, the welterweight (67kg) silver medallist from the 2022 Youth World Boxing Championships, had a superb technical performance against Serbia’s Hamza Rasljani and he joined the next stage of the competition.
Kazakhstan’s youth duo at the light middleweight (71kg), Islam Sovetov and Oner Seilkhan both eliminated their rivals unanimously in Sarajevo. They controlled all of the three rounds against Bogdan Kovalchuk and a host nation’s talent, Lazar Bovan.
Don’t forget you can keep up with all of the action, news, results and photos by following ASBC on Facebook and Instagram.
ASBC website: www.asbcnews.org
ASBC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASBC.Boxing/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/
ASBC Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BoxingAsian?s=08