Assylbek Talasbayev Advances to the Semi-Final in Beijing

Assylbek Talasbayev (Photo: Jarkyn Bayzhigitova)

Assylbek Talasbayev (Photo: Jarkyn Bayzhigitova)

The experienced lightweight fighter returned to the ring this year when he became National Champion in February. Talasbayev’s main target is to qualify for his third Olympic Games in London as first Kyrgyz boxer.

Kant-based Talasbayev won his quarter-final contest against Tariq Zia of Pakistan by 12:8 and will therefore travel back home with at least a bronze medal. In his next bout he will face Polish youngster Tomasz Michelus.

Talasbayev’s new compatriot, 22-year-old welterweight boxer Maksat Alimbayev, was born in Kazakhstan in 1988 but changed his nationality this year because he could not get involved in the Kazakh national team.

Alimbayev reached the semi-final after beating Algeria’s Ilyas Abbadi who competed at the AIBA Youth World Championships in Baku. The Kyrgyz boxer will be a great match against King’s Cup winner Maimati Tusunqiong of China in the semi-final.

The young local boxer is one of the biggest talents in China and he has got a good chance to be included in his country’s squad for the Asian Games. Tusunqiong won against Czech Martin Svoboda in the quarter-final by 12:3 in the welterweight division.

Another Chinese boxer, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Tournament winner Meng Fanlong, won his first contest in Beijing against Romanian Cezar Juratoni in an unexpectedly close bout. The Chinese athlete who took part in the 2009 AIBA World Championships in Milan will fight against Ahmed El-Hendawi of Egypt for the final.

Panamerican Junior Champion 17-year-old Dagoberto Aguero of the Dominican Republic in his second tournament among elite boxers outpointed Moldova’s newcomer Gheorghe Dascal and will face Chinese National Games winner Li Chao in the semi-final, who defeated Mohammed Bedir of Egypt by 7:0 in the 52kg weight class.

Vasile Belous of Moldova is only 22, but he has been a member of the national elite team since 2006 and therefore had enough experience to beat Jan Romanovskij of Lithuania in the welterweight quarter-final.

The World Combat Games continue with twenty-two semifinals in the next competition day, with at least half of the remaining boxers under 21 years old.

Source & Article – AIBA

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