The Ukrainian national team continues its campaign at the U19 World Boxing Championships in Budva, Montenegro. After eight days of competition, the Ukrainian team already has four semifinalists, who have secured at least bronze medals at the World Championships.
Kira Makohonenko, Sofia Novikova, Vladyslav Naumenko and Volodymyr Derkach have reached the semifinals. In their quarterfinal bouts, the Ukrainian representatives defeated opponents from Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Poland and Romania.
Thus, Ukraine has already secured at least four medals at the tournament, although the Ukrainian boxers still have to fight for a place in the finals.
After the first four days of competition, Ukrainian athletes had recorded nine wins in 11 bouts. In the following days, the members of the national team continued their fight for places in the decisive stages of the championship.
One of the following competition days was particularly successful for Ukraine, as Ukrainian boxers secured three victories. Based on this result, Ukraine was among the most successful national teams of the day, alongside Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
One of those victories was secured by Tymur Karaivan, who competes in the up to 80 kg weight category. The Ukrainian defeated Hadi Almashhadi of the United States and continued his run at the tournament.
Another Ukrainian boxer, Oleksandr Kravchenko, competing in the up to 70 kg category, also reached the quarterfinals of the World Championships.
Ukraine was represented in the up to 50 kg category by Mykhailo Sydorenko, who arrived in Budva as the winner of the World Boxing U19 Futures Cup.
At the start of the World Championships, the Ukrainian confidently defeated Turkmenistan's Bezirgen Annaev 5:0 to advance to the next round.
In the round of 16, Sydorenko faced Kazakhstan's Adil Askanbai. After three rounds, the judges awarded the victory to the Kazakh boxer by a split decision, 4:1, bringing the Ukrainian's World Championship campaign to an end.
The team's biggest successes came in the quarterfinals. Four Ukrainian representatives won their bouts and secured places in the semifinals:
In particular, Sofia Novikova, competing in the up to 80 kg weight category, defeated Kazakhstan's Aidana Ubaidullakyzy by unanimous decision, 5:0.
Since boxers who lose in the semifinals receive bronze medals at the World Championships, each of the four Ukrainians has already secured a medal. They will now continue fighting for a place in the finals and for the gold medal at the World Championships.
The Ukrainian team's fight for medals does not end here. On October 24, two more representatives of Ukraine are scheduled to compete in their quarterfinal bouts.
One of the Ukrainians will face a representative of Russia, while the other will take on a boxer from Uzbekistan. A victory in either of these bouts would also guarantee another medal for Ukraine at the World Championships.
Thus, after eight days of competition, Ukraine already has four guaranteed medals, and the total number could still increase.
The U19 World Championships in Budva have brought together 474 athletes, competing across ten men's and ten women's weight categories. Ukraine is represented at the tournament by 19 athletes — ten male boxers and nine female boxers.
As a reminder, 9-year-old Ukrainian Myron Netrebka became the world chess champion.
