Szeleczki and Szira delighted the home crowd in Budapest Hungary’s duo as Lilla Szeleczki and Zsofia Szira delighted the home crowd on the fourth competition day at the European U23 Women’s and Men’s Boxing Championships in Budapest where both are finalists. Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales are the participating nations. Greece’s Antonia Giannakopoulou had excellent international results in the recent years and she was able to eliminate one of the best Finnish boxers, Teresa Makinen which means that she will now meet Ukraine’s Viktoria Shkeul in the semi-finals of the 54kg. Poland’s Nikola Prymaczenko had the strong performance to beat Hungary’s Laura Horvath at the 54kg while her Olympic silver medallist teammate, Julia Szeremeta worked much better than in her first appearance in Budapest, beating England’s Vivien Parsons. Georgia’s women boxers are in strong developing stage, the country achieved some top results in female’s boxing this decade. Their Khuraman Kasumova was too strong for Lithuania’s Vilte Savickaite and she will now face Ireland’s Natalia Fasciszewska. Germany’s Emely Dittrich has four years of international experience and those contests paid off in her quarter-final at the women’s 70kg against Spain’s Lorena Lopez but her next opponent will be a more difficult one, Turkey’s Dilara Sak. Ukraine’s Maksym Zymenko eliminated one of the stars, Ireland’s World Championships bronze medallist Thady Patsy Joyce and he continued his winning path against Germany’s Ali El Sari in the quarter-finals of the men’s 55kg. Georgia’s Luka Nikabadze was the favourite in the quarter-finals of the men’s 70kg against Israel’s Yehor Novikov and he accomplished his minimum target, a guaranteed medal in Budapest where his next opponent will be Greece’s surprise, Zacharias Mylonas. Belgium’s Rayen Ben Othmen is not an experienced boxer in the international competitions but he found the best tactics against Bulgaria’s 19-year-old tall Semion Boldirev to manage his way into the semi-finals of the 85kg.
Hungary’s No.1 in the women’s U23 national team, Lilla Szeleczki eliminated Ukraine’s Sofya Turbinina in the quarter-finals and she defeated Poland’s Marta Prill as well on their re-match. The top Hungarian will be boxing for the gold medal of the women’s 48kg weight class with Turkey’s Nurselen Yalgettekin. Turkey’s Bilge Kagan Kanli started better than Bulgaria’s Viktorio Iliev in the first round and he took the lead in all of the judges’ scorecards. The 19-year-old Bulgarian switched into a different level of boxing in the second round and he turned back this quarter-final at the 65kg. Noa Hadjit was bronze medallist at the 2022 Youth World Boxing Championships in La Nucia which was a historic moment for Belgium and he is now also in the semi-finals in Budapest following his success over Austria’s Lucky Aimufua at the 80kg. Germany’s Nikita Putilov claimed his first European title in 2021 and his nation’s best U23 boxer had some difficulties in the first round against Bulgaria’s Kiril Georgiev but he stepped into the gas in time to win their quarter-final by RSC.