Ian Clark Bautista's victory at 52kg


Joy thrills through the Subic Bay, the biggest tourist area of the Philippines, since all four young boxers who reached the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships final claimed gold medals on home soil. The talented athletes offered hope to the home crowd for a bright boxing future for their country.

It was Jade Bornea to become the first local hero in Subic Bay as he defeated a very talented Japanese boxer Kosei Tanaka who is also a member of his national elite team. Following the two equal rounds the host nation's pride was able to turn up the heat and win their contest by a close 15:13 which brought the first gold medal for the Philippines. Both fighters will chase for gold at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Almaty this autumn.

President's Cup silver medallist Ian Clark Bautista earned the second gold medal for the Host Nation. The flyweight's first contest in the AIBA Youth World Championships was the closest one during the whole competition while he won all of the three rounds against Uzbekistan's Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov and secured an impressive victory in the second final of the last competition day.

The most inexperienced team member in the Filipino youth squad was James Palicte who joined the team only this year. Nonetheless he already proved to be able to achieve great results in the international level while acquired the host nation's third gold medal after have beaten in the last round China's 17-year-old Liu Xiaoshuai who is a recognised talent in the lightweight class ready to compete in the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships.

The show went on with a performance of the AIBA Junior World Champion Eumir Felix Marcial who was the biggest favourite of the light welterweight class before the continental event. The 17-year-old strong boxer was able to realize his golden dreams by defeating Mongolia's Batzorig Otgonjargal in the final by large margin of points. The Filipino national flag was raised once again and all of the fans sang their national anthem celebrating their fourth gold medal in the ASBC Asian Youth Championships.

But there were not just hosts to achieve remarkable results in Subic Bay. Kazakhstan's youth team has also triumphed in the championships with four gold medals which enabled them to regain the top position in Asia. Bantamweight's Shokhr Boltekuly Tournament winner Kanat Koptleuov was the first from their new squad who managed to achieve the top of the podium in Subic Bay. He worked out a victorious tactic against his rival, Japan's Kenji Fujita who was the top favourite in the final.

Among the Subic Way highlights there were two battles between the two Central Asian boxing nations - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Kazakh young talents secured their gold in both of them. The first fight brought together the welterweight class Uzbek AIBA Junior World Championships silver medallist Israil Madrimov and his opponent Kazakh's experienced Aitzhan Shleyev. The Uzbek boxer took the lead in the second frame but reduced his advantage to zero in the final gong. The Kazakh boxer's hand was raised by the referee following his narrow victory by accepted scores.

In the second match between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan opponents, Kazakhstan's rising star Tursynbay Kulakhmet who regained his place in the national team, shocked Uzbekistan's AIBA Youth World Champion Akmalbek Kosimov in the third round of their battle and his efforts resulted into another gold medal for Kazakhstan. The Uzbek boxer who was awarded the best Asian youth boxer trophy last year appeared to be not strong enough is his new middleweight division.

The fourth Kazakh gold medal was achieved by Youth National Champion Adilet Orynbasarov who triumphed over Iran's AIBA Youth World Championships quarter-finalist Siavash Omidi. The Kazakh light heavyweight boxer won all of their rounds closely and achieved his best ever result in his career after the final gong. Both boxers were born in 1995 which means they may bring us other bright moments at the youth level this year.

The heavyweight class Uzbekistan's AIBA Junior World Champion Oybek Sharipov striked back to the previous Uzbek losses in Subic Bay by his victory against Kazakhstan's Aibek Ermetov. After six minutes of their fight, the Uzbek star was leading by only 10:8 against his rival, but in the final round he showed that he was too strong for his opponent and secured gold for Uzbekistan this time. The 18-year-old Sharipov won all of his tournaments in the previous two years and a half excluding the AIBA Youth World Championships.

The last final battle of the competition in the super heavyweight division was a real world class bout between two talents. China's tall and tough Zhang Zhe had five points advantage against Uzbekistan's National Elite Champion Ulugbek Mubinov who has not given up his golden expectations and used all the tactics to reduce the difference of their battle. Finally, there was just one point left to overcome, but it was lack of time to decide the sad result for Mubinov in his prominent bout in Subic Bay.