Hungary' Zoltan Hracsa - Photo: Mojas Stijepovic



The 51st edition of the Belgrade Winner Tournament has come to a close in Serbia's capital where Hungary's London Olympics quarter-finalist Zoltan Harcsa was awarded the Best Boxer trophy in the competition. The event, however proved too strong for the home team and the host nation were unable to celebrate any gold medals at the tournament.

Hungary's Zoltan Harcsa turned to 20 last November and following his success in the Bocskai Memorial Tournament has now also claimed the gold medal in the Belgrade Winner Tournament where he was too strong for Kazakhstan's defending National Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. The Kazakh corner abandoned their fight in the second round and Harcsa secured the gold medal, winning the Best Boxer trophy in the process. The Hungarian middleweight boxer trains with coach Imre Szanto in the club of Kispest and is expecting more medals from the main competitions this year.

Kazakhstan's former National Champion Olzhas Sattibayev was gold medallist at the 2005 AIBA Cadet World Championships and despite of competing at a large number of international events he had been unable to breakthrough at the elite level. Now, however he has returned following a demanding training camp to triumph over Serbia's AIBA European Olympic Qualifiers competitor 20-year-old Milos Baltic in the final of the flyweight class.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria's former European Junior Champion Stefan Ivanov moved up a division and fought in the bantamweight class in Belgrade. The 21-year-old Bulgarian hope was too strong for Hungary's Bocskai Memorial Tournament silver medallist, teenager Mark Szoros who has been preparing for the EUBC European Youth Championships which is scheduled to be in the city of Rotterdam in August.

Hungary's third finalist in the Belgrade Winner Tournament was two-time Olympian Miklos Varga who increased his training volume in recent weeks and proved that his patient style is also successful in the world of boxing. The 25-year-old lightweight hope had a bye to the final against Serbia's WSB star Branimir Stankovic who could not fight against him due to a hand injury. Varga started better than his final opponent, Kazakhstan's defending National Elite Champion Berik Abdrakhmanov and he was able to maintain his advantage until the final bell.

Canada's two-time National Champion Yves Ulysse has been a member of the national squad since 2010 and thus came to the ring with greater experience than Scotland's two-time National Champion Lewis Benson who was his final opponent in the light welterweight class. Ulysse eliminated Serbia's Ivan Popovic in the semi-finals and following that success he triumphed over his Scottish rival as well.

Australia's newly crowned National Champion Daniel Lewis has not had enough international contests yet but he shocked Hungary's European Champion Balazs Bacskai in the quarter-finals. The extra motivation of the Aussie fighter resulted in him taking a tournament title after beating Kazakhstan's tough Suleyman Berdukayev in the final of the welterweight class.

Kazakhstan's Great Silk Way Tournament winner Nurdaulet Zharmanov moved up to the light heavyweight class in the recent weeks and competed in his new division for the very first time. The 23-year-old Central Asian boxer eliminated Bosnia & Herzegovina's veteran Darko Kucuk in the semi-final and strolled to the gold against Radoslav Pantaleev of Bulgaria.

Canada's heavyweight No.1, AIBA American Olympic Qualifiers bronze medallist, Samir El-Mais won the Independence Cup in Santiago de los Caballeros in February and the veteran boxer demonstrated his strength once again in Belgrade. El-Mais achieved Canada's second gold medal in the Belgrade Winner Tournament where he outpointed Kazakhstan's 21-year-old Arbek Abduganiyev in the final.

Montenegro's current top boxer, 23-year-old Marko Radonjic, moved up to the super heavyweight class and won three bouts in Belgrade. In the absence of the best Serbian boxer Milutin Stankovic his teammate Radivoje Joksovic tried everything to get at least one gold medal for the host nation but he fell short of his objective. Radonjic won their battle by 10:6 and bagged Montenegro's first international tournament title in 2013.