Belarusian boxers win three gold medals at an international competition, held at Minsk’s Palace of Sports

Gold went to Dmitry Asanov, the only Olympic qualification candidate of the Belarusian team. In the under 56kg weight category, he defeated Tajikistan’s Oraz Azalshoev in the finals. The second gold was won by Pavel Kostromin (under 69kg); he defeated Shakhram Giyasov, from Uzbekistan. The under 75kg final fight was all Belarusian: Andrey Mikhailov unexpectedly knocked out the Belarusian team captain, Vitaly Bondarenko.

Silver medals at the Minsk tournament also went to the Belarusian team boxers: Yegor Kurbanov (60kg), Maxim Visloukh (64kg), Sergey Novikov (81kg) and Sergey Korneev (91kg). Bronze medals were won by Belarus’ Sergey Loban (52kg), Dmitry Sapon (60kg), Yevgeny Dolgolevets (64kg), Ilyas Odinaev (69kg) and Yegor Gorbunov (81kg).

The event gathered boxers from 17 countries and the hosts won 13 awards. The competitions were a good test of strength before the Olympic qualification tournaments scheduled for April and May 2016. To qualify in April, boxers will need to be in the top three medal places. In May, they’ll need to be among the top five.

Following the important spring tournaments, the Belarusian team hopes to receive three or four Olympic qualifications. So far, only Belarusian boxer Dmitry Asanov has the right to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.