Uzbekistan's five boxers advance to the next stage at Strandja Memorial Tournament

Two sessions were in the schedule of the third competition day and half of the weight categories were in action. The new Strandja Memorial Tournament is the 72^nd edition which made the event one of the most traditional competitions in the whole world. Following the general weigh-in, it is confirmed that 220 female and male boxers from 30 nations are attending in the Strandja Memorial Tournament.

Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, host Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Mali, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America and Uzbekistan are the participating nations in Sofia. Among the Asian countries, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan decided to send strong teams to the Strandja Memorial Tournament.

Uzbekistan’s experienced female boxer Raykhona Kodirova was quarter-finalist at the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event but she lost her Box-off in Amman. The 27-year-old boxer had a local rival, Aslahan Mehmedova who had good youth and U22 results in the recent three and half years. Kodirova had the stronger punches and knew more about boxing therefore she advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s lightweight (60kg).

Uzbekistan’s Asian Games winner and ASBC Asian Champion Bobo-Usmon Baturov is the main favourite of the men’s welterweight (69kg) in Sofia and following his impressive performance during the preliminaries, he was fresh enough in the quarter-finals to dominate his next contest. The 26-year-old Uzbek, who qualified already for the Tokyo Olympic Games, eliminated Armenia’s Gurgen Madoyan in the third competition day.

Uzbekistan’s AIBA World Boxing Championships silver medalist Dilshodbek Ruzmetov missed the quota place at the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event but he arrived to the Strandja Memorial Tournament in top shape. The 21-year-old Uzbek boxer, who trains with coach Farrukh Kilichev, was too strong for Bulgaria’s Kristian Nikolov and advanced to the semi-finals. His teammate, AIBA World Champion Bakhodir Jalolov used his longer reach to beat France’s European Games silver medallist Mourad Aliev at the super heavyweight (+91kg).