Japan had impressive victories in the men’s youth semi-finals in Astana

The last part of the semi-finals delivered excellent battles at the Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Astana.

The venue of the championship is the Beeline Arena in Kazakhstan’s capital where the number of the boxers is 435. The competition returned to Kazakhstan after seven years of break but the country is ready to host further championships in 2024.

Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Palestine, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen are the 22 participating nations in the event.

Japan’s Seiya Nakayama had an unbeaten opponent in the day of the semi-finals but he used the perfect strategy against Tajikistan’s CIS Games winner Meroj Sufijonov at the minimumweight which means he will box for the title Beksultan Boranbek of Kazakhstan.

His teammate, Raito Kataoka also exceeded the previous expectations with his performance in the semi-finals when he defeated Philippines’ talent, the Youth World silver medallist Ronel Suyom who had an illness during this championship.

Turkmenistan’s Aziz Klychev is one of the youth sensations in this championship, the featherweight (57kg) boxer defeated three top boxers, including John Paul Napoles of the Philippines and he will be boxing for the gold medal.

Uzbekistan has a super strong youth squad and among them Samandar Olimov (54kg), Sayat Ilyasov (60kg), Shavkatjon Boltayev (67kg), Youth World Champion Fazliddin Erkinboyev (75kg) and Javokhir Ummataliyev (80kg) amazed in Astana.

Kazakhstan’s best youth boxer, the two-time ASBC Asian Junior Champion Torekhan Sabyrkhan used a different strategy in the semi-finals but he stopped Jordan’s Omar Al-Hadidi at the light welterweight (63.5kg).

The host nation’s further experienced boxers such as Islam Sovetov (71kg), Daulet Tulemissov (80kg), Viktor Litvinov (86kg) and Ivan Yermolenko (+92kg) all secured their places in the finals.