All of the winners at the quarter-finals of the 2010 AIBA Youth World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, secured a place at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August this year.

Four of the seven boxers from host nation Azerbaijan in the quarter-finals go through to the semi-finals after another excellent day for the busy Azeri coaches.

Photo source: AIBA

Poland's Dawid Michelus dashed the hopes of the Senior World Championship silver medallist and France's Tony Yoka caused another major upset by defeating the reigning Junior World Champion.

Light flyweight (48kg)

Cuba's Yosvany Veita Soto beat Darren Woods from Australia to book a semi-final place against Ireland's Ryan Burnett this morning. Burnett dismissed Mark Barriga, the only remaining boxer from the Philippines in the competition on his route to a medal.

The bout was close-fought but Burnett stuck to his guns to pull back three points in the closing stages of the third round. "I was told to move round the ring and keep my hands up," he said. "So I stuck to the game plan and it paid off."

Azerbaijan's Salman Alizada notched up another easy victory, defeating Belarus's Vadzim Kirylenka 14:6 to book a contest against Uzbekistan's Zohidjon Hoorboyev.

Flyweight (51kg)

Russia's Vasiliy Vetkin strode to a 20:4 victory over Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Che. His opponent in the semi-finals will be Shaban Shahpalangov from Azerbaijan, whose quarter-final contest today was stopped by the referee with 2.07 remaining on the clock in the third round when the score was already 14:2 in Shahpalangov's favor.

Hesham Mahmoud Abdelaal from Egypt did Africa proud with a stunning 14:1 victory over Kazakhstan's Youth Champion Nurlan Abzhanov. He will face Puerto Rico's Emmanuel Rodriguez in Sunday's semi-final.

Bantamweight (54kg)

Poland's national champion Dawid Michelus caused the day's biggest upset when he eliminated Senior World Championship silver medallist Tugstsogt Nyambayar from Mongolia in a close 5-4 victory. His coaching team were elated after the bout.

Coach Emin Huseynov explained: "There is only one contender from Poland in the quarter-final. He was our hope and he is boxing very strongly. He trusts in himself and two days ago he beat a Turkish boxer in spite of the great support for Turkey. I know that he will win again."

Michelus will face Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana in the semi-final. Carrazana comprehensively defeated the Dominican Republic's Juan Yonelvin Medina 14:1.

India's Shiva Thapa beat Russia's Vadim Semin on an impressive 13:3 scoreline and will face Alexandru Marin from Romania in Sunday's semi-final.

Featherweight (57kg)

Bulgaria's Denislav Suslekov beat Bruno Licheri from Italy 5:2 to secure a semi-final head-to-head with Germany's Artur Brill. "I have the strength for the next round and I'm sure I'll be in the final," he said.

He sees no difference in an all-European semi-final than with any other country: "Every country has its own style so I always watch my opponent's bouts to look for their weaknesses."

Turkey's Unal Gulec took a narrow victory against Cuba's Norland Yera Diaz to set himself up against Azerbaijan's Elvin Isayev in Sunday's semi-final. Isayev put on the morning's most thrilling display with a 22:11 victory over Kyrgyzstan's Nursultan Pazylov.

Lightweight (60kg)

India reaffirmed its status as a force to be reckoned with in international boxing when Krishan Vikas denied Ireland's Michael O'Reilly a single scoring point in his eight-point victory.

"India is a very strong boxing country, especially at the Youth level. I give all my credit to my coach. My dream has come true because of my coach."

Vikas will be up against Germany's Thomas Vahrenholt, who dismissed Armenia's Hrayr Matevosyan.

The second semi-final at lightweight sees Azerbaijan's Kamran Bakhshaliyev face Australia's Brett Mather.

Light welterweight (64kg)

The Ukraine's Oleg Nekliudov won the battle of the Junior World Champions against Cuba's Arlen Lopez Cardona 6:1 to progress to a semi-final contest against Venezuela's Samuel Zapata.

The second light welterweight semi-final will put Lithuania's Ricardas Kuncaitis against Argentina's Fabian Maidana, who secured a second semi-final place for South America after an emphatic 4:0 victory against Georgia's Zura Mekerishvili.

Welterweight (69kg)

Asian Youth Champion Ahmad Mamadjanov made it through to the semi-final after a clear 14:6 win against Kazakhstan's Zhanibek Alimhkanuly. He will meet Kyrgyzstan's Islomzhon Dalibaev in the semi-final.

In the second semi-final at weltwerweight, Germany faces Brazil after Denis Radovan narrowly beat Azumah Mohammed from Ghana 2:1 and David Laurencio da Costa outscored Ireland's Christopher Blaney.

Middleweight (75kg)

Junior World Champion Joe Ward from Ireland is only two bouts away from adding the Youth World title to his record book. He easily overcame Russia's Kyazim Eneev 9:6 after a routine performance during which he barely seemed to break into a sweat.

"It's going well so far but it's not the end of it yet," he said. "If you want to be a champion you have to act like a champion. Hopefully I can go and win a medal in Singapore from here." Ward will have to overcome Colombia's Palacio Carrillo in the semi-final to keep his dream alive.

Australia's Damien Hooper booked his place in the semi-final after beating China's Wen Yinhang 7:7. He will now face Hungary's Harcsa Zoltan, who was one of the few boxers to beat one of the home side today, defeating Vatan Huseynli 9:5.

Light heavyweight (81kg)

Panamerican Youth Champion Irosvani Duverger from Cuba advanced easily to the semi-final stage with an 11:2 victory against Bijan Khojaste of Iran. He will be up against Russia's Anzor Elpiev who stamped his mark on the quarter-finals by knocking out opponent Serdar Hacioglu in the first round.

The crowd had to concede a victory to their good friends from Turkey when Burak Aksin dismissed Teymur Mammadov 5:1 to book a semi-final place against Uzbek Sardorbek Begaliev.

Heavyweight (91kg)

Italy's Fabio Turchi left the ring bloody but victorious after a scrappy encounter with Belarus's Leanid Charnabayeu which ended 6:3 in the Italian's favour. Turchi faces a tough day on Sunday for his semi-final after Panamerican Champion Lenier Pero Justiz from Cuba won his bout in the second round when the referee stopped the contest due to his opponent Salar Gholami from Iran being outscored after a knock-down.

Turkey's Umit Patir put in a sterling performance as he shut out his opponent for the second consecutive time. His 9:0 win over Croatia's Josip Filipi puts him against Russia's Alexander Ivanov in the semi-final.

Super heavyweight (+91kg)

Kiwi Joseph Parker from Auckland demolished the Panamerican Youth Champion Yuniel Castro Chavez 8:1 to advance to the semi-final. Astonishingly, he did so with "borrowed" coaches, since the Australian coaching team are looking after him in Baku.

"I try my best and it worked well with these coaches helping me. I feel happy and I'm proud of what I've achieved," he said.

Parker will meet Croatia's Filip Hrgovic in the semi-final, who eliminated the host nation's final hope of the quarter-finals, Fargan Omarov.

Ukraine's Oleksandr Skoryi eased past Greece's Alexios Zarntiasvili to secure his semi-final place against France's Tony Yoka. In the day's closing bout, the Frenchman made up for a warning in the second round and used his 1.98m to full effect to clinch a close 7:6 victory over Junior World Champion Gasan Gimbatov from Russia.

"I feel very happy," he said. "My parents are watching at home and at one point I was losing by three points so I thought of them and didn't stop.

"I'm quite relieved because qualifying for the Youth Olympic Games was one of my objectives for the season. But I don't count on stopping at that, I'm going for the gold medal."

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