The review of the ASBC Best of the Asians Program

The President of the Asian Boxing Confederation Mr. Anas Alotaiba led the ASBC Awarding Ceremony in Thailand’s capital on April 2019 after the finals of the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships.

The winners of the Best of the Asians 2018 project were revealed following the online voting in 13 different categories. The voting in the ASBC social media was available in the recent days through the Survey Monkey system. The Asian Boxing Confederation received record number of 5,675 votes during the online process for the Best of the Asians 2018 which shows the significant development and the great commitment of the sport.

The first Best of the Asians awards for the 2012 winners were presented during the 2013 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in Subic Bay, Philippines. Since then the Best of the Asians project is a success of the Asian Boxing Confederation and the voting was available for all followers and stakeholders. AIBA Vice-President and President of the Asian Boxing Confederation Mr. Anas Alotaiba, furthermore the whole ASBC management are grateful to the followers for their record number or votes and activities during the project.

Following Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Yeleussinov’s and Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Giyasov’s successes a middleweight (75kg) star Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan won the Best Asian Man Elite Boxers Award. The powerful Uzbek boxer was silver medallist at the Incheon 2014 Asian Games at the age of 19 and following four years of experiences in all level of boxing he became the flagbearer of Team Uzbekistan at the Opening Ceremony of the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games. Madrimov defeated all of his rivals in the Asian Games with strong performances including Philippines’ No.1 Eumir Felix Marcial and Kazakhstan’s AIBA World Boxing Championships silver medallist Abilkhan Amankul.

In the women’s elite level another middleweight (75kg) boxer became the Best Asian Women’s Elite Boxer in 2018. The 28-year-old Li Qian, who claimed bronze medal in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, started the year with a top success at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria which is one of the strongest competitions in the whole globe. Following her victory in Sofia she was impressed at the New Delhi 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships where she not only earned the gold medal but defeated Netherlands’ Rio 2016 Olympic Games silver medallist Nouchka Fontijn who was the Best AIBA Woman Boxer in 2017.

Thailand’s super talented Atichai Phoemsap had busy year in 2018 but he was able to remain unbeaten in the Top3 youth competitions. The 18-year-old boxer firstly won the Bangkok 2018 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships, secondly he achieved the gold medal at the Budapest 2018 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. Phoemsap was still in top form at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and won his most important event this October capturing al of the three big titles in 2018.

Sakshi Choudhary won her first big title at the Taipei 2015 AIBA Women’s Junior World Boxing Championships. The promising Indian girl claimed her second gold medal at the Guwahati 2017 AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships. Following that success, she moved up to the featherweight (57kg) and acclimatized quickly which delivered another gold medal for her at the Budapest 2018 AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships. Sakshi was only 18 but she is already three-times AIBA World Champion.

India produced superb boxers in the smallest weight class of the men’s boxing in the elite, youth and junior age groups in the recent years. Their new promising talent kept his unbeaten series in 2018 when his main success was a gold medal at the Nations Junior Cup in Serbia which was one of the strongest competitions in this age group. Keisham Sanjit Singh defeated experienced boxers from three different continents in 2018.

Following Kazakhstan’s Zhamila Bolat, who won the Best Asian Women’s Junior Boxer title in 2017, another welterweight (66kg) talent became the No.1 after the voting process. The 16-year-old Arundhati Chaudhary has joined to the national team only 12 months ago but she won two strong European international tournaments the Nations Women’s Cup and Nations Junior Cup as well. During the voting process, she won the narrowest competition against Kazakhstan’s 16-year-old Eldana Talipova.

The Indian Tigers joined to the World Series Boxing in Season VIII and their franchise was enough strong to win matches during their debuting years. Mohammed Etash Khan was bronze medallist at the Bangkok 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships but their coaches selected him to the WSB team before his 18th birthday. Khan not only remained unbeaten in the Group Stage of Season VIII but he defeated such strong boxers as Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Koshegulov and China’s Xu Boxiang.

India’s Gaurav Solanki won the gold medal at the 2014 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships and he qualified for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games at the age of 17. The Indian prospect has done a fantastic breakthrough among the elite boxers in 2018 when he claimed silver medal at the Strandja Memorial Tournament before winning one of the most important competitions the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in April. The 21-year-old Indian flyweight (52kg) boxer won the title of the Chemistry Cup in Germany in June where he defeated the Cuban and Russian No.1s.

India topped the team rankings in the Guwahati 2017 AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships where their head coach Italy’s Mr. Raffaele Bergamasco led their squad. The Italian coach made strong successes with the elite team during the preparation events as in the Ahmet Comert Tournament in Turkey and in the Silesian Women’s Open Tournament in Poland. His squad won four medals in the New Delhi 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships including one title which was achieved by legend Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte who became six-time AIBA World Champion this November.

Kazakhstan is a traditionally strong boxing nation with several top results in the recent 25 years and their experienced official Mr. Aslan Igubayev is one of the hard working persons in the Asian continent who supports the success of our sport. Kazakhstan’s top Supervisor worked successfully in several big boxing events in 2018 and travelled a lot to cover all worldwide and multisport events with his great knowledge, and experiences. Mr. Aslan Igubayev had a successful boxing career in the ’90s before joining to the officials in Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan’s ringside doctor Mr. Dilshod Kazakov ranked No.2 behind India’s Mr. Lenny D’Gama in the Best of the Asians 2017 but following his hard work this year he took over his main rival. Mr. Dilshod Kazakov is an experienced International Technical Official who has been supporting the world’s boxing life since decades. Mr. Kazakov worked successfully in the Budapest 2018 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and also in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Mr. Aleksandr Hamidov was one of the busiest Asian Referee & Judges in 2017 and he worked plenty of international events also this year. The Asian referees & judges worked in all of the top international competitions in the second year of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic cycle. Mr. Hamidov’s highlight this year was the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games besides to his duties at the World Series Boxing.

Uzbekistan was not only successful at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games but the country topped the team rankings in Brazil. Uzbekistan is one of the key nations not only in the Asian continent in our sport and their boxers worked strongly in the most important events in 2018. Uzbekistan won gold medals in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in the Budapest 2018 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and in the Bangkok 2018 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships. Among the elite boxers Uzbekistan topped the team rankings in the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games with their five gold medals.

List of the winners in the Best of the Asians

1. Best Asian Men’s Elite Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Israil Madrimov, Uzbekistan, 75kg

2. Best Asian Women’s Elite Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Li Qian, China, 75kg

3. Best Asian Men’s Youth Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Atichai Phoemsap, Thailand, 60kg

4. Best Asian Women’s Youth Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Sakshi Choudhary, India, Women’s 57kg

5. Best Asian Men’s Junior Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Keisham Sanjit Singh, India, 46kg

6. Best Asian Women’s Junior Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Arundhati Chaudhary, India, 66kg

7. Best Asian WSB Boxer in 2018 – Winner: Mohammed Etash Khan, India, 56kg

8. Asian Discovery of the Year 2018 – Winner: Gaurav Solanki, India, 52kg

9. Best Asian Coach in 2018 – Winner: Mr. Raffaele Bergamasco, India (Italy)

10. Best Asian Supervisor in 2018 – Winner: Mr. Aslan Igubayev, Kazakhstan

11. Best Asian International Technical Official (ITO) in 2018 – Winner: Mr. Dilshod Kazakov, Uzbekistan

12. Best Asian Referee & Judge in 2018 – Winner: Mr. Aleksandr Hamidov, Uzbekistan

13. The Best Asian National Federation in 2018 – Winner: Uzbekistan Boxing Federation