| Our boxers pretty much beat the rest of Europe The textbook truth that there is always a place for heroic deeds in life was reminded to sports fans by the squad led by Nikolai Khromov. In the Croatian resort town of Pula, our leather glove masters set a new record at the European Championships, winning nine gold medals out of a possible 11, and all our finalists won their decisive matches!
We performed just as successfully two years ago at the previous continental championship. True, in Perm the competitions were held not in 11 weight categories, as now, but in 12 (the ring owners had one more “silver” and “bronze” each). It is always easier to win within your own walls. But the main difference is that this time the best fighters of the Old World sorted things out several months before the main start of the quadrennial in Athens, when the judges assessed the performance of each laureate through the prism of the approaching Olympics. And the fact that the Russian masters of the leather glove did not give them any reason to doubt their obvious superiority over their rivals indicates that the domestic boxing school is on the rise.
It is no coincidence that in Pula our compatriots tried to outdo each other in an effort to deal with their opponents as quickly as possible. In any case, this impression is created when studying the statistics of the last 35th European Championship, and the most experienced world champion-97 Alexander Maletin (weight up to 64 kg) succeeded more than others on this front. Having won four early victories in a row, he rode into the final on a white horse, where he had to face Igor Pashchuk. However, the Ukrainian boxer’s seconds, for unknown reasons, refused to enter the ring, and Maletin became a three-time European champion without a fight.
Meanwhile, the first among the Russians on Sunday was the current world champion Sergei Kazakov (48 kg), who beautifully beat the Italian Alfonso Pinto in the decisive match. After him it was the turn to win for Georgy Balakshina (51 kg), Gennady Kovalev (54 kg), Oleg Saitov (69 kg), Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov (75 kg), Evgeniy Makarenko (81 kg), Alexander Alekseev (91 kg), and the winning point directed by heavyweight Alexander Povetkin. It is noteworthy that both in Perm and in Pula, the representative of Chekhov’s club “Vityaz” only at the end of the battle with great difficulty achieved victories over the very strong young Roberto Camorelle. Unlike their rendezvous two years ago, the Italian retained more strength for the decisive fight - in the semi-finals the Bulgarian Sergei Rozhnov refused to fight him. Being an awkward left-hander, Roberto again fought on equal terms with Povetkin for all eight minutes, and only at the end of the fight did the “knight” tip the scales in his favor with four accurate blows.
When one team collects such a large harvest of medals in the ring, the question involuntarily arises about the weakness of the other teams. The correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper asked the President of the Russian Boxing Federation Eduard KHUSAINOV to clarify the situation by calling him in Pula immediately after the end of Sunday’s fights.
- Firstly, our main task was to win the maximum number of Olympic licenses. And we coped with it, because now we are only missing two tickets in the 57 and 60 kg categories, which we are going to win at the upcoming qualifying tournaments. As for the opponents, their excellent preparation is beyond doubt. Moreover, they have noticeably improved in skill compared to the previous continental championship. But to their misfortune, we are progressing even faster.
Take, for example, the 54 kg category. Here, Gennady Kovalev convincingly defeated the Frenchman Ali Allab in the final, who had previously dealt with the current world champion from Azerbaijan, Agassi Mamedov. Many similar cases have been recorded. And this is natural, because many new strong young boxers have appeared in Europe. Therefore, victories were not easy even for such stars as two-time Olympic champion Oleg Saitov. And it was especially difficult for him in the semi-finals, where Saitov was opposed by the Azerbaijani Ruslan Khairov, who was well known to him from the 2000 Olympics. In Sydney, Oleg won with great difficulty, and here history repeated itself. But in the final, Saitov taught a real lesson in boxing skills to the Frenchman Xavier Noel, beating him with an eloquent score of 41:22.
But we were even more pleased with Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov, recognized in Pula as the best boxer of the 2004 European Championship. Two years ago, he was the only member of our team who was left without a medal at the European Championship in Perm. Failure crippled him psychologically when Gaidarbek ceased to be considered number one. To overcome the crisis, it was necessary to be patient, and he finally won a ticket to Pula, and already here he literally tore apart all his rivals.
Eduard Khusainov also noted that all the winners of this European Championship will go to the 2004 Olympics. Thus, the Russian team will be a real fusion of experience and youth. By the way, at the end of this year the 100th anniversary of domestic boxing will be celebrated. The best gift for him would be a successful performance in the Olympic ring, and judging by the latest results, Russian fans will not be disappointed.
European Boxing Championship. Pula (Croatia). Finals results.
Weight category up to 48 kg. Sergey Kazakov (Russia) - Alfonso Pinto (Italy) - 41:22. 51 kg. Georgy Balakshin (Russia) - Nikolos Izoria (Georgia) - 39:21. 54 kg. Gennady Kovalev (Russia) - Ali Allab (France) - 52:28. 57 kg. Vitaly Taiberd (Germany) - Kedapi Jelkhir (France) - with a clear advantage. 60 kg. Dimitar Stilyanov (Bulgaria) - Aydin Seljuk (Türkiye) - 32:21. 64 kg. Alexander Maletin (Russia) - Igor Pashchuk (Ukraine) - Pashchuk no-show. 69 kg. Oleg Saitov (Russia) - Xavier Noel (France) - with a clear advantage. 75 kg. Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov (Russia) - Lukas Vilashek (Germany) - with a clear advantage. 81 kg. Evgeniy Makarenko (Russia) - Mario Sivolia (Croatia) - with a clear advantage. 91 kg. Alexander Alekseev (Russia) - Viktor Zuev (Belarus) - with a clear advantage. Over 91 kg. Alexander Povetkin (Russia) - Roberto Cammarelli (Italy) - 30:26.
A clear victory is awarded if the gap reaches more than 20 points before the start of the last round. Valery RAJABLI |
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