Uzbekistan’s young stars Uktamova, Turdibekova oust veteran Indians in Elorda Cup semis

Young national stars Nigina Uktamova and Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan punched their way to the gold medal round of the 1st Elorda Cup after toppling separate experienced foes from India in the semifinals in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

The 19-year-old Uktamova, a reigning AIBA Women’s Youth world champion, trounced former youth world titlist Sakshi Choudhary, 5-0, in the women’s bantamweight (54kg) division and arranged a final tiff against another Indian in Women’s World Boxing Championships 2019 bronze winner Jamuna Boro.

On the other hand, ASBC Asian champ Turdibekova pulled off a 3-2 split decision over former world and two-time Asian silver finisher Sonia Lather Singh to advance to the women’s featherweight (57kg) title bout where she will meet Karina Ibragimova of Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, host country’s defending world champions Temirtas Zhussupov and Saken Bibossinov continued their rampage en route to the gold medal match of their respective weight classes.

Zhussupov schooled the much younger Anvarzhon Khodzhiyev of Kyrgyzstan, 5-0, to set up a men’s minimumweight (48kg) battle against Asian U22 winner Asilbek Jalilov of Uzbekistan.

Bibossinov battered another Kyrgyz bet in Nurzhigit Duyshebayev, 5-0, in the men’s flyweight (51kg) where he will take on Cuba’s Alejandro Claro Fizz for the gold.

Reigning world champs Sewon Okazawa (light middle-71kg) of Japan and Yoenlis Hernandez (middle-75kg) of Cuba, world silver finishers Makhmud Sabyrkhan (bantam-54kg) and Serik Termizhanov (feather-57kg) of Kazakhstan, and Asian titlist Saidjamshid Jafarov (middle) of Uzbekistan also cruised to the final round.

Serving as the new international tournament organized by the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, the Elorda Cup will award 700 USD to the gold medalists while 400 USD and 200 USD will be handed out to the silver and bronze winners, respectively.

China, India, Mongolia, Japan, Cuba and Central Asian national teams joined the event as part of their preparations for the bigger competitions.

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