Owain Harris and Ali Abdullayev were out of the 43 winners at the European U23 Boxing Championships today

Wales’ Owain Harris-Allan and Azerbaijan’s Ali Abdullayev impressed in the first competition day at the European U23 Women’s and Men’s Boxing Championships in Budapest, Hungary today.

Poland’s Bartlomiej Roskowicz is member of the elite national team since 2023, therefore he was way too experienced for Switzerland’s Yanis Medina in the opener of the entire championships. Ireland’s Louis Rooney eliminated Georgia’s Lasha Kereselidze at the men’s 50kg weight class in the first bout of the Ring B.

Azerbaijan’s Youth World silver medallist Ali Abdullayev overcame Hungary’s Milan Petriman in the attacks in the first and second rounds to take the advantage on the scorecards. The Hungarian was excellent in the last round and Abdullayev saved fuels for the later actions but the Azeri won their tactical meeting at the 65kg.

Georgia’s Levan Demurovi and Belgium’s Bruxelles Capital Tournament winner Rasul Tisayev had the similar style of boxing and the same level of international experience but the first was more punctual on their 65kg preliminary bout.

The Latvians have developed a lot in the recent two years and their U19 and U23 teams are very competitive in the European level of boxing. Their Emmanuils Sidorenko worked hard in all of the three rounds to beat Greece’s Panagiotis Kostouros at the 65kg.

France’s Djamel Djemmal is only 19-year-old but he had the technical skills to beat Belgium’s Hornel Ayetivi at the Round of 32 of the 70kg.

Norway’s Adam Arsaev is a powerful puncher and he demonstrated that against Azerbaijan’s Farhad Sheydayev while Wales’ experienced Orlando Holley-Sotomi amazed in this 75kg weight class to beat Israel’s Ahmad Jabarin.

Wales’ Owain Harris-Allan almost qualified for the Paris Olympics but he is still full of energy to reach top results and he eliminated Lithuania’s Aleksandr Petrovskij at the 60kg where Latvia’s Matvejs Prokudins, England’s Jack Dryden and Albania’s Ariol Zeneli also won their preliminary meetings.