Stroe, Stegari and Grigorie kept the youth titles on home soil

Romania’s trio, Fabian Stroe, Darius Stegari and Daniel Grigorie kept the youth gold medals at the Dracula Open Tournament on home soil.  

Ukraine’s Ruslan Budnychenko won the first hectic male final in Braila, he defeated Azerbaijan’s Hikmat Mammadov at the minimumweight (48kg). Azerbaijan’s Bilalkhabasi Nazarov earned several medals in major championships therefore his success over Ukraine’s Maksym Mashevkyi was not a surprise.

Azerbaijan’s Zidan Hunbatov moved up one category as Nazarov but he adopted the level of the punches well at the bantamweight (54kg). The Azeri moved more on feet than Oleksandr Pasichenko of Ukraine and despite his opponent’s efforts in the third round, Hunbatov bagged the gold medal.

Romania’s Stefan Udroiu worked hard in the first round to catch Azerbaijan’s more experienced Subhan Babayev and he attacked without any stoppages. The Romanian gave in everything in the third round but his efforts were not enough to turn back their featherweight (57kg) final.

Romania’s European Junior Champion Fabian Stroe enjoyed the support of the local fans and he overcame Ukraine’s David Zhyhzhavyn in the attacks to win the lightweight (60kg). Romania’s Darius Stegari has joined the youth age group this January but he was effective from counter-attacking range to beat Latvia’s Nikolajs Zamjatins.

Romania’s European Junior Championships bronze medallist Daniel Grigorie landed several body-head combinations in the first round against Ukraine’s Oleg Musiyenko and he continued the same strong way until the end of the final.

Bulgaria’s smaller Sami Khalil tried to reduce the fighting distance against Ilia Mylnikov of Ukraine but his opponent was better in longer range to win the final.

Ukraine’s Eduard Husiev landed a lethal punch in the first round and Alexandru Butoi’s ringside abandoned the unequal heavyweight (92kg) final. Azerbaijan’s Mahammad Jafarov shocked Romania’s favourite Denis Cucu with heavy punches and he took the super heavyweight (+92kg) title.