Twelve Medals «Struck» in Sixty-Degree Heat

The European under-19 boxing championship closed in Baku, leaving the Ukrainians with twelve out of thirteen possible awards. Vice president of the European Amateur Boxing Association and vice president of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation Ihor Haidamak told The Day the following:

«We were very pleased to be received by President Geydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan, who reportedly pays so much attention to the development of boxing among children and teenagers in his country. In particular, a whole network of children's and teenagers' sports schools has been opened in various regions lately, which brought on results even in this competition. The hosts netted as many as nine medals.

Our team only won two gold medals. I say «only» because we hoped for more. Particularly, Rovenky- based Oleksandr Bokach could have contested the highest title, but he fell ill in the last minute and thus finished third. On the other hand, our boys had to simultaneously fight three rivals: 60- degree-C (!) heat, local boxers cheered up in the finals by hot-tempered Caucasian fans, and, unfortunately, occasionally biased refereeing. The gold-winners were Petro Myhulia from Mariupil and Dmytro Samkov from Ivano-Frankivsk.

The young boxers passed their exam with distinctions, while the adult masters of the leather glove began their bouts yesterday in Houston, Texas, at the world championship. Ukraine's national team is putting on the ring such experienced athletes as Olympic bronze medal winner Oleh Kyriukhin from Mariupil, champion of Europe Volodymyr Sydorenko from Enerhohrad, European Cup winner Viacheslav Senchenko from Kremenchuk, and many others.