For more than two years, many Russian athletes have found it difficult to get to international tournaments. Even fewer athletes from our country can boast of big victories during this period. And it would seem completely inappropriate to talk about successes under the Russian flag. But at the beginning of November, good news came from Montenegro – the Russians were dominating the world championship under the tricolor.

Three gold medals in just one day!

Contrary to IOC prohibitions

On Saturday, November 2, the finals of the world junior boxing championship were held in the Montenegrin city of Budva. It would seem that the tournament is not the largest, but it simply could not go unnoticed by Russian fans. The explanation is simple – here, contrary to IOC prohibitions, our athletes compete under the flag, and if they win the final, they hear the anthem of their native country.

Snezhana Kuznetsova, who competed in the weight category up to 52 kg, was the first to please the fans in the finals. The Russian woman defeated her Chinese opponent Chen Yanfeng. It is worth noting that this is not the first time that a native of the Sverdlovsk region has risen to the highest step of the podium at a major international tournament. A year ago in Yerevan, the girl took gold at the world championship in the age category of 15-16 years.

Vyacheslav Rogozin also knows what winning at international tournaments means, but at the World Championships the Yaroslavl athlete had yet to make a loud statement about himself. The young man confidently reached the final in the weight category up to 54 kg, and in the fight for the gold medal he was stronger than the Chinese boxer Zhang Hanrui.

Vyacheslav Rogozin / Photo: © Department of Physical Culture and Sports

Decent result

Platon Kozlov, who competed in the up to 60 kg category, also brought gold to Russia. In the semi-finals, the Oryol boxer defeated the Azerbaijani Mahammadali Gasimzade with a score of 5:0. In the final, the Russian was opposed by Yandiel Lozano from Puerto Rico, but he could not stand in the way of our boxer to victory.

The last Russian to enter the ring on Saturday was Kamil Dzhamaev, who competed in the up to 86 kg category. In the semi-finals, his opponent was supposed to be Belarusian Andrei Rumyantsev, but due to a wrist injury, the boxer was unable to compete for access to the final. Having saved his strength, the Dagestan athlete, unfortunately, could not show the best boxing in the main fight and lost the gold to the Uzbek Akmaljon Isroilov. But in any case, silver at the world championship is a worthy result.

The first day of the finals turned out to be close to ideal for the Russian team. Three gold medals and one silver, and even under the flag of the country – this is certainly a reason for pride. But there is another day of finals ahead, in which the Russians will also fight for gold medals.