Netherlands’ Maud Van der Toorn, Italy’s Chiara Mosetti and Germany’s Randy Botikali were the heroes of the semi-finals at the 44th Gee Bee Tournament in Helsinki. The Dutch and the German boxers proved perfect performance in the third competition day.
The Gee Bee Tournament is a great international competition with excellent possibilities to prepare for the big championships this year, including the European Elite Boxing Championships.
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, United States of America and Wales are the participating countries in the upcoming edition in Helsinki.
The bout of the day
Netherlands’ Youth World Champion Maud Van der Toorn was near to qualify for the Paris Olympics but Los Angeles 2028 is in her full focus. The Dutch boxer had a very hard battle against her neighbour, Belgium’s Sarah Renders who exceeded all of the previous expectations. Van der Toorn used her jabs slightly better in the last decisive round and she won their 60kg semi-final by 3:2 split decision.
The surprise of the day
Italy’s Rome-based Chiara Mosetti won the last edition of their National Championships a few months ago and the Gee Bee Tournament is her debut in the international stage. Despite her lack of experience, the Italian surprised France’s Gloria D’Almeida in the first round and she had the great finish to beat her opponent in the semi-finals of the women’s 48kg.
The Round-Up
Finland’s Laura Myllymaeki started the year with a fantastic gold medal at the Golden Girl in Sweden and she was also on the top of the Nordic Boxing Championships. The 34-year-old Finnish boxer defeated Norway’s Francine Lukungu Ahadi twice this year and she repeated at the same performance at the Gee Bee Tournament in Helsinki on their re-match.
Kazakhstan’s Asian Champion and former Olympian Zhaina Shekerbekova has a strict personal schedule at the Gee Bee Tournament where she has to box in all of the competition days. After two tough and tight successes in Helsinki, the 37-year-old veteran met Finland’s European bronze medallist Emma Jokiaho as next. Following the first tactical round, Shekerbekova had the speed and the effective attacks to beat the local opponent in the semi-finals of the women’s 54kg.
Scotland’s Niamh Mitchell claimed a European junior title, while her semi-final opponent, Ginevra Muzzi was a European Youth Champion. Both boxers are members of the next generation and will have strong impacts on the world of boxing in the upcoming years. Mitchell proved that her presence is also strong and she controlled most of the exchanges to win this 60kg semi-final.
France’s Mohamed Ounai is not the most experienced in their national team yet but his silver medal at the Boxam Tournament showed his great potential. The French had the world-class footwork in the first and second rounds to beat a US development team opponent, Dustin Jimenez today. Ounai’s final opponent at the men’s 65kg weight class will be Denmark’s new sensation, Qalid Osman on Sunday.
The dream final of the women’s 70kg weight category has accomplished at the Gee Bee Tournament, after the two favourites both marched to the title contest. Firstly, the European Youth Champion Maelys Richol of France defeated Finland’s Zabrina Holmstrom, secondly the Commonwealth Games winner Rosie Eccles of Wales triumphed over Kazakhstan’s Zhasmin Kizatova.
United States’ Richmond-based Nnajai Wright turned to 19 only last month but the super heavyweight boxer is one of the big names at the Gee Bee Tournament. The Brandenburg U19 Cup winner athlete controlled all of the three rounds against Denmark’s David Farah Bakhsh and he will now meet Germany’s new National Champion Dilvan Yazgan for the title of the super heavyweight.
France’s Wassila Lkhadiri claimed her first medal in the international stage of boxing in 2014 and after twelve years of routine, she had the skills to handle the first round against Scotland’s young Neely Brooke. The Olympian French boxer had an impressive third round as well which means that she will be boxing for the title of the women’s 51kg with Kazakhstan’s Anita Adisheva.
Denmark’s Alice Bennedbaek robbed into the world of European Boxing only last year and she claimed a gold medal at the Golden Girl in Sweden two months ago. She used her aggressive style of boxing to beat Scotland’s Lara Brown today and she can test her current skills against United States’ Deborah Grant in the final of the women’s 57kg.
Netherlands’ Mahmoud Al Chabtoun met against some amazing rivals during his career but he had to do his very best against United States’ Yahir Diaz Martinez today. The Dutch boxer landed the stronger punches and his start resulted an advantage for him on the judges’ scorecards. The US boy gave in everything in the third but Al Chabtoun managed this 60kg semi-final effectively to meet Scotland’s Nicholas Devlin for the gold medal.
Norway’s Madeleine Angelsen had a difficult start this year despite she invested a lot of work to increase her skills. The former Golden Girl made a strong comeback after the first round and she was able to outbox her US opponent, Alexis Proctor, in one of the top contests of the semi-finals. The experienced Norwegian will now meet Netherlands’ U19 World silver medallist Aaliyah Hoppema for the title of the 65kg.
Wales’ experienced Orlando Holley-Sotomi competed in several previous editions at the Gee Bee Tournament and he uses the event as preparation for the Commonwealth Games. The Welsh boy, who moved down to the 70kg, opened the first round strongly against Randy Botikali but his German opponent found the fighting range in time to turn back their semi-final. Botikali, who has a busy schedule this year, will be boxing for the gold medal of the weight class with Netherlands’ Finn Bos.