The 6th Junior Nations Cup finished with its 23 finals contests in Vrbas, Serbia where several young stars secured their gold medals.
The best man boxer was United States’ Elijah Lugo, while Sanja Mitic of Serbia got the Best Woman Boxer Trophy in Vrbas. The best technician boxers were Florin Caldararu of Romania and Italy’s Sara Battistella following the decisions of the competition management. The best fighter trophies were awarded to Hungary’s Krisztian Nileborg and Romania’s EUBC European Women’s Junior Champion, Amalia Nita.
Italy, Czech Republic and Serbia were the Top3 nations in the women’s part of the international competition. Kazakhstan, Italy and Azerbaijan were the best male teams in the Junior Nations Cup where nine countries earned at least one title.
Eighteen nations competed for the titles in the 6th Junior Nations Cup: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Romania, host Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America.
Serbia hosted the Nations Women’s Cup and the Belgrade Winner Tournament in 2022, and their third international event was the 6th Junior Nations Cup for the 15 and 16-year-old boxers. The Junior Nations Cup was launched in 2017 and the event took place at the Drago Jovovic Sports Hall in Vrbas as in the recent years.
The Tournament Director of the 6th Junior Nations Cup was Serbia’s ITO, Mr. Jovan Panic, the engine of the international competition. The event was a strong and one of the last preparations for the upcoming EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships which will be starting in the end of September.
The bout of the day
The Italians sent their best teams before the start of the EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships which will be held in their homeland. Their female coach, Mrs. Valeria Calabrese used the event as the last selections in a few weight categories including the light flyweight (48kg). Graziella Schinina is an experienced junior girl who controlled two out of the three rounds against her teammate, Giulietta Marongiu in the final. Her opponent gave in everything in the last round but her efforts were not enough to turn back their finals contest. Schinina’s success means that she has the realistic chance to compete in the forthcoming continental event.
The Round-Up
The Serbians impressed in the recent EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships and their new team has also strong potential for the future. Sanja Mitic is their most experienced girl in the national team and she used the event as active preparations before the main championships of the year. She had hard opponents but the young Serbian managed to beat Romania’s Luciana Petrache in the final of the flyweight (50kg) on home soil.
Czech Republic secured fantastic women’s results among the schoolgirls, junior and youth age groups since the beginning of the Covid-19 period. Julie Polednikova followed her family’s pathway and earned the title in Vrbas after beating Italy’s Martina Vassallo at the light bantamweight (52kg). Czech Republic’s Katrin Ivanovova participated at the 2021 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships in Tbilisi and she won a few international competitions in the recent one and half year. The tall Czech girl used the best fighting distance against Italy’s Aisha Dovesi and bagged her nation’s second female gold.
Following several Italian triumphs in the women’s part of the competition, Romania’s Amalia Nita proved her amazing technical skills. The 16-year-old Romanian is the defending champion at the EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships and she remained unbeaten in the whole year. Nita had to meet Serbia’s Anastasia Boskovic in the final of the welterweight (66kg) but she was better in all aspects of boxing than the local girl. The next Romanian finalist, Diana Tanasescu had nice combinations in the title bout of the light middleweight (70kg) but Italy’s Giulia Molinaro was too fast for her.
Azerbaijan’s first gold medal in the Junior Nations Cup was captured by Bilal Nazarov who walked over to the title of the pinweight (46kg) against his compatriot, Faik Mollayev. The Azeris had fantastic technical skills in this competition and their second gold medal was taken by Taghi Nasibov at the flyweight (50kg). The 16-year-old boxer had a tough rival, the experienced Daniel Irofte of Romania but Nasibov’s great finish guaranteed his title. Mahammadali Kasimzade was their third male gold medallist, he won his next international competition within two months.
Hungary’s Kevin Kozak developed a lot this year but his final opponent, Romania’s Florin Caldararu was slightly better than him at the light bantamweight (52kg). The next Hungarian male finalist, Krisztian Nileborg is unbeaten this year, the 16-year-old talent defeated all of his rivals in 2022 with large margin of difference. Nileborg eliminated a tough Kazakh junior in the semi-finals of the light middleweight (70kg) and he continued his winning path against Italy’s Gabriel Morale.
