England’s No.1, Lily Bassett started her campaign at the European U17 Boxing Championships with a success

The European U17 Boxing Championships opened with two busy sessions in Kienbaum, Germany where England’s No.1, Lily Bassett won her first bout.

Germany’s Aaron Rakk had an amazing start against Ireland’s Emmet Shields and he took the advantage on the judges’ scorecards. The Irish switched his tempo in the second and he dominated the third to make a big U-turn on their 48kg preliminary bout.

Ireland’s Jason Maher has strong family connections to boxing and he was named as one of the favourites at the men’s 60kg. The Irish boxer had a very competitive opponent as first, France’s David Harutyunyan but from the second round, he found the best distance to win their meeting.

Slovakia’s Kristian Harasnik is already a European Champion but he had difficulties in the first round against Turkey’s Ozgur Kilic at the 60kg. The Slovakian stepped into the gas in the second and with a superb final period, he turned back their preliminary contest.

Hungary’s Istvan Czifra and Georgia’s Tamazi Gabelia had same international experience and previous results but the first surprised his opponent with a new strategy. The Hungarian controlled the first and second rounds well enough to eliminate the Georgian by 4:1 split decision at the 63kg.

Sweden sent a small team to the European U17 Championships to Kienbaum but their Wilmer Ekbolm Olsson proved his amazing technical skills against Croatia’s Ivan Harald Barlek at the 63kg.

Romania’s Andrei-Robert Iofciu bagged a bronze medal in the 2024 European Junior Boxing Championships and he had all of the routine and strength to beat Israel’s Maks Meltser in the preliminary of the 75kg.

England’s No.1, the European Junior Champion Lily Bassett also opened her campaign in Kienbaum in the first competition day and she won all of the three rounds against Azerbaijan’s Aysel Farajova at the women’s 46kg.

Ukraine’s Oleksandra Cherevata not only used her longer hands to keep Bulgaria’s Valya Nikolaeva on long but she stopped her opponent in the second round.