Great Britain’s Crystal Barker also sparkles on a ‘Good Friday’ for Chinese Taipei boxers in Sofia by Michael O’Neill

(Additional reporting: aiba.org)

The 2014 AIBA World Youth Championships (incorporating the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics qualifier) entered its fifth day at the Armeec Arena in Sofia on Good Friday with the standout teams in the Women’s event being Chinese Taipei and Turkey since all three of their boxers overcame stiff opposition to reach the quarter-finals stage.

The women now have a break until Easter Monday when the ‘last eight’ bouts will help determine who will collect a medal, be it Gold, Silver or Bronze on finals day.

The United States, Ireland, Italy, and Kazakhstan each have two boxers through to Monday’s programme.

One of the most impressive Friday winners was Bridgewater Salford ABC boxer, Crystal Barker, the 18 years old Great Britain representative.

EUBC European Junior Champion Barker, to the surprise of many, put paid to the hopes of Japan’s AIBA Junior World Champion Kasumi Saeki in the 51kg weight class.

Speaking to the media later, Crystal said: “I went into the ring with the right tactics knowing I could win the bout against the Japanese boxer, and feeling confident was the key to today’s bout. I knew I had the reach on her, so used it to my advantage, and also felt really good in the ring”.

Barker you may recall had defeated Ireland’s European Union titleholder, Kristina O’Hara in Monday’s first round bout and is a regular sparring partner of Nicola Adams, Lisa Whiteside and Natasha Jonas at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield where she is a member of the Team GB Development squad for Rio 2016.

Other winners today again included the Irish duo of Mayo’s Ciara Ginty (Geesala BC) and Christina Desmond who boxes out of the Macroom club in County Cork.

The current World Junior champion, Ginty defeated Russian titleholder Anastasia Nesmiyanova (60kg) coming from behind and winning 2:1 on a split decision. That said an excellent win against one of the pre-tournament favourites. The Irish no.1 now meets Italy’s Monica Floridia on Monday.

An 18 years old student at Coláiste Ghobnatan in Baile Bhúirne in the Múscraí Gaeltacht, Christina Desmond overcame the strong challenge of Kosovo’s first ever female champion, Albulena Gubetini, a doughty fighter from Metrovica .

Though Desmond officially won 2:0 it remains something of a mystery as to how one judge scored the final round 38:38 when her opponent took two standing counts and was clearly outfought for most of the remaining period.

Gubetini though will have benefited greatly from this experience, and it is very encouraging to see new female talent emerge from young  nations like Kosovo .

Desmond now faces Poland’s Elizbieta Wojcik in a battle of the 2013 AIBA World Youth silver medallists on Monday. Both women reached the 2013 welterweight (Desmond) and middleweight(Wojcik)  finals at the AIBA 2013 World Youth Women’s Championships and of course Wojcik put up a magnificent fight in that final against London 2012 Gold medallist Claressa Shields in Albena .

To conclude our report from the Bulgarian capital, here courtesy aiba.org is their review of the rest of the day’s female programme.

“On a day of much action and excitement, it was the nation of Chinese Taipei who stood out the most, with incredible performances from their female team, as all three of their young hopes advanced to the quarter-finals.

Team of the Day:

The ladies youth boxers from Chinese Taipei can now be thought of as one of the top boxing nations in the world following an amazing team performance on Day 5.

Their Flyweight class (51 kg) boxer Huang Hsiao Wen, a two-time National Champion, started the winning path of Chinese Taipei when she eliminated Poland’s EUBC European Women’s Junior National Championships silver medallist Wiktoria Sadej.

Huang was the taller boxer, and used her height advantage as a weapon against the European boxer, controlling the bout and winning by unanimous decision.

Huang’s compatriot Wu Pei Yi began her boxing career in 2008, and her hard work in the gym is paying off, as seen by her great performance on Day 5.

Though relatively small at 158 centimetres, she made her size work for her, by getting close to her second opponent of the tournament, Australia’s Youth National Champion Anne-Marie Kelly.

The Australian was fifteen centimetres taller than her Asian rival, and controlled the opening of the contest, but Wu stood firm, and a slight change of tactics allowed Chinese Taipei’s boxer to turn back the fight, eventually winning by split decision.

Chinese Taipei’s AIBA Junior World Champion Chen Nien Chin claimed a bronze medal in the Taipei City Cup last August, ultimately tasting defeat against Kazakhstan’s London 2012 bronze medallist Marina Volnova in a close contest which showcased her great potential.

Chen started her boxing career in 2010, and has only been defeated twice in her career. She met with Bulgaria’s Youth National Champion Mihaela Nikolova on Day 5, and her strong punches in the first round set the standard for the bout, and she eliminated the home favourite.

Showing the worldwide strength of female boxing, sixteen nations have still got the chance to get at least a bronze medal in the championships.

Quote of the day :

“I felt myself pretty confident, and I was really excited to fight in the Armeec Arena again. My tactic was to work forwards and answer with sidesteps if my Dutch opponent attacked. Sometimes I have got stuck in the fights, but it felt like I handled it good by keeping my arms inside of hers. I will do my very best in the quarter-finals but until that I will relax,” added Sweden’s AIBA Women’s Youth World Champion Agnes Alexiusson following her victory over Netherlands’ Bobbi Been.

Tomorrow’s program:

Three program sessions are scheduled for the sixth competition day, with only the male boxers in action, spread over four weight classes.

Winners of the Light Flyweight class (49 kg), Lightweight class (60 kg), Welterweight class (69 kg) and Light Heavyweight class (81 kg) bouts will reach the Top 16 on Day 6.

One of the most anticipated fights will be held between Kazakhstan’s AIBA Junior World Champion Abylaykhan Zhussupov, and Russia’s European Junior Champion Temirlan Batdiyev at the Lightweight class (60 kg).

So we look forward to a great day’s boxing on Easter Monday when the action commences again in the Women’s events.

All the day’s scorecards are here:

https://www.aiba-database.org/uploadXML/pdf_yth/C74-C74E24.PDF