It’s Day 6 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Boxing Tournament. Today, the Kokugikan Arena hosts 22 bouts in three weight classes: the Men’s Middle (69-75kg), Men’s Super Heavy (+91kg) and Women’s Fly (48-51kg).
Today’s morning the session was opened by an intense Men’s Middle (69-75kg) match between the top seed Oleksandr KHYZHNIAK (UKR) and the local hero MORIWAKI Yuito (JPN). The Japanese boxer had to bow to the 2019 European Games gold medalist from Ukraine who claimed a unanimous decision victory. In the quarterfinals, KHYZHNIAK will meet Dominican Republic’s Euri CEDENO MARTINEZ, who defeated Francisco Daniel VERON via a 3:2 split decision in order to advance.
The Armenian boxer Arman DARCHINYAN, making his Olympic debut here in Tokyo, passed through the round of 16 beating Andrej CSEMEZ (SVK) with a 5:0 victory. Coming up next for him is seed #4 Eumir MARCIAL of the Philippines, who dominated his bout earning a pretty fast win against Younes NEMOUCHI (ALG) as the referee stops the contest 2:41 into the first round.
“It was over very quickly. It was an accident; he got a cut on a clash of heads and the doctor said it was a big cut, so he stopped the fight.” Said MARCIAL. “I would have liked more fight time as I knew I could relax in that first round. I know I will have to do better in my next fight, and I will prepare for it properly.”
MARCIAL spoke also about his preparation for Tokyo 2020: “I have been training for this since I didn’t make Rio. I’ve worked hard for four years for this moment so I will be ready.”
The Pilipino athlete trained with renowned boxing coach Freddie ROACH (USA) at his gym in Los Angeles, California. “That’s been good, and I learnt a lot of tactics from coach Freddie and his other trainers and I can use that experience in my competition here.” He said. “At the same time, I am very grateful to my national team coaches as for the last month before we came here, they have given me all the support I needed. We’ve trained hard for this, so let’s go!”
Later into the session, the Men’s Super Heavy (+91kg) division was on stage at Kokugikan Arena. The top seed and World Champion Bakhodir JALOLOV (UZB) outscored Azerbaijan’s Mahammad ABDULLAYEV, pursuing his dream to become the second boxer from Uzbekistan to claim an Olympic medal in Men’s Super Heavy (+91kg) after Rustam SAIDOV (UZB), who took bronze in this event in 2000.
Speaking after the match, JALOLOV said: “My fight was really good. I always think that my first fight will be difficult but this time it was really easy. I hope the next fight will be even easier.”
In bout #147 Satish KUMAR of India put on an impressive performance defeating Ricardo BROWN of Jamaica to enter the quarterfinals. As a result, the JALOLOV – KUMAR match will take place on Sunday, August 1st, and the winner will be guaranteed a medal.
In the following match, the heaviest Super Heavy boxer of the tournament, Frazer CLARKE of Great Britain (119 kg), pulled off a massive upset in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Boxing Tournament as he stunned Tsotne ROGAVA of Ukraine in their round of 16 of the Men’s Super Heavy (+91kg) division.
Today’s was CLARKE’s debut in an Olympic tournament, after missing out on London 2012 and Rio 2016:
“It’s a great feeling. Waiting is something I have become very good at, so an extra six days didn’t seem that long, to be honest. I was itching to get in there, and I had to ease back…on the training, I was so keen to let my hands go. But I had a couple of days off before this fight and it served me well, as once I got into the ring I was ready to go.”
The British boxer will now face Mourad ALIEV of France, the number #4 seed in the tournament and a silver medalist of the 2019 European Games, who marched on with a unanimous decision over Siyovush ZUKHUROV (TJK).
Later on in the morning, Women’s Fly (48-51kg) CAKIROGLU Buse Naz (TUR) came out on top with a close 3:2 split decision over RAKHIMOVA Tursunoy (UZB) at the end of a fierce battle. In the next round, the top seed from Turkey will have to deal with 23-year-old Jutamas JITPONG (THA) who showed her fighting qualities against the Pilipino boxer Irish MAGNO, beating her by a clear 5:0.
The Women’s Fly (48-51kg) event continued with Serbia’s Nina RADOVANOVIC claiming her second 5:0 victory of the Olympic tournament, this time over Ornella HAVYARIMANA of Burundi.
In the last action of the morning session, there was disappointment for Italy’s Giordana SORRENTINO as she was beaten on a unanimous decision by the #4 seeded Hsiao-Wen HUANG (TPE) in the round of 16 bout. The boxer from Chinese Taipei will be back on the ring on Sunday, 1 August, against RADOVANOVIC for a chance to enter the semifinals.
The Olympic Boxing Tournament is going forward this afternoon starting at 5:00 PM (Japan’s time) with eleven more exciting boxing performances in Men’s Middle (69-75kg), Men’s Super Heavy (+91kg) and Women’s Fly (48-51kg).
Event schedule and results
Find the event schedule and the results here.
