India and Algeria dominated the women’s finals in the fourth competition day at the 52nd Golden Belt Tournament in Braila where Romania’s Stefan Stavri delivered the main surprise of the event.
The 52nd edition of the Golden Belt Tournament is the next elite female and male competition on the road for the preparations to the European Elite Boxing Championships, Asian Games and the Panamerican Boxing Championships.
The Golden Belt Tournament will be fully transparent with live scoring at the Boxerbase website at www.boxerbase.comand all of the fans can follow the event in all of the competition days.
The bout of the day
India’s Nitu Ghanghas claimed the gold medal at the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and she became World Champion at the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships as well. The 26-year-old eliminated Romania’s Mihaela Badescu in the semi-finals but she did not find the best fighting distance against Algeria’s Fatiha Mansouri in the first round. The Algerian boxed over her previous level of boxing in this final bout and she was hungry to take this big scalp but Nitu returned to the business in the second. The Indian performed also well in the third round and she won the battle of the southpaw boxers at the women’s 51kg final bout.
The surprise of the day
Romania’s Arun Nicu Tudoroiu and his teammate Stefan Stavri made a great show in the semi-finals of the men’s 70kg weight category after the women’s medal ceremonies. The 20-year-old Tudoroiu had a hard tactical job against the taller Stavri and both invested a lot of efforts to win this important bout today. Stavri had a fantastic finish and he caused the surprise of the day with his 3:2 split decision success and he will face for the gold medal with Daniel Adrian Grigorie who had also a strong performance.
The Round-Up
Romania’s Nicoleta Elena Radu walked over to the first female title at the Golden Belt Tournament following her teammate, Amalia Mihalcea was not able to compete against her in the final of the women’s 48kg weight class.
India’s Aarti Dhariyal produced an impressive performance against Romania’s Laura Olaru in the semi-finals of the women’s 54kg two days ago and she started the final against Romania’s Carla Laura Broncea also strongly. The Indian had strict jabs in the second round and the referee counted the 19-year-old Romanian after one of her actions. Dhariyal turned up the heat in that period which was uncomfortable for the Romanian teenager and the bout finished by RSC in the favour for Dhariyal.
Ichrak Chaib was a bronze medallist at the 2022 Women’s World Boxing Championships and she moved down to the 60kg this year. Chaib kept the full focus against her teammate Melissa Hamda in the final of the weight class and she underlined in the first round that she is the better boxer. The 25-year-old Chaib overcame her rival in the attacks well enough in the second round and she had the massive advantage on the scorecards. Hamda had great footwork in the contest and she proved progress in this Golden Belt Tournament but Chaib was still too experienced for her.
Algeria’s Djouher Benane eliminated Romania’s Maria Cimpoeru in the semi-final of the women’s 65kg weight class and she had another local opponent in Braila, Crinuta Andra Nicoleta Sebe who had a triumph over India’s Ankushita Boro in the last four. The Algerian landed multiple shots in the first and second rounds to take the lead on the judges’ scorecards. Sebe produced her best round in the third but Benane was successful also in the exchanges to take the gold medal of the weight class.
Amalia Nita competes at the 75kg weight class in this Golden Belt Tournament but she is planning to participate one category lower in the European Elite Boxing Championships in Sofia. She had a tight advantage against India’s Imroz Khan after three minutes and she tried to use her best fighting distance and footwork today. The 20-year-old Nita was seriously successful among the junior and youth boxers and she claimed her first main elite title in the city of Braila.
Ukraine’s Dmytro Rudia had difficulties in the first round against Romania’s small Alex Mihai Zaharia and the local boxer had a tight advantage on the scorecards. Rudia used his 15cm height advantage better in the second round, he got the right instruction from the corner and he followed the new tactics much better. Zaharia looked tired in the third round, he was not able to catch the tall Ukrainian therefore Rudia managed his path to the final of the 80kg. Moldova’s Valeriu Razmerita controlled the second semi-final over Romania’s Rares Bogdan Stoiculescu and he will now meet Rudia for the title tomorrow.
Uzbekistan’s Shakhzod Polvonov was medallist in the Asian Junior and Youth Boxing Championships during his career and the 20-year-old pugilist received the right to compete among the elites in Braila. The Uzbek faced with one of the local veterans, Romania’s former European U22 Champion Paul Andrei Aradoaie but he was not able to repeat his previous performances. Aradoaie was better in speed, number of attacks, punctuality and physical condition as well therefore the Romanian advanced to the final of the 90kg.