Fantastic day with medals for the Dominican Republic in Paris

One of the best ever competition days were held for the boxers from the Dominican Republic at the Paris Olympic Games where Yunior Alcantara and Cristian Javier Pinales both are now medallists.

France’s European Champion Billal Bennama had a very difficult job in the Round of 16 of the men’s flyweight (51kg) against United States’ Roscoe Hill and he had a similar tough battle in the quarter-finals against Cuba’s Alejandro Claro but he managed to win a medal on home soil.

Dominican Republic’s Yunior Alcantara and Spain’s Rafael Lozano both landed dozens of punches in their quarter-final, their hands looked like machine-guns in all of the three rounds. The Dominican was slightly better in the decisive last round and he won the battle of the young 2004 born boxers in Paris.

Another tough boxer from the Dominican Republic, Cristian Pinales is in wonderful shape in this Olympic Games and he had the full concentration against Croatia’s Gabrijel Veocic. Pinales proved that he is a native talent with excellent physical skills and he won the second medal for the Dominican Republic in Paris.

Germany’s last Olympic medal in boxing was achieved by Artem Harutyunyan but their Nelvie Tiafack repeated that for the proud country. The European Champion was taller, stronger than Italy’s Diego Lenzi and his shots decided their quarter-final at the super heavyweight (+92kg).

Cuba’s Arlen Lopez had a tough but successful battle against Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullayev at the light heavyweight (80kg) and he remained his chance alive to be crowned for the third time. His main rival, Ukraine’s World Champion Oleksandr Khyzhniak also succeeded today in his quarter-final bout.

Spain’s Ayoub Ghadfa, the defending European Champion at the super heavyweight (+92kg), defeated his Armenian opponent, Davit Chaloyan once again on their repeat match. The next guaranteed medallist in this weight class was France’s Djamili Dini Aboudou Moindze who had a close contest against Ecuador’s Gerlon Congo.