Team USA Takes Three Wins on the First Day of Women’s Junior/Youth Women’s World Championships

By Julie Goldsticker – September 23, 2013

(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – The United States squad opened its first Women’s Junior/Youth Women’s World Championships with three victories on Monday at the Albena Resort in Albena, Bulgaria on Monday. Both junior athletes advanced in tournament action following first round walkovers with youth welterweight Samantha Kinchen (Lexington, Ky.) claiming the lone contested win of the day.

Kinchen won all four rounds in her bout with Romania’s Ana-Roxana Patrascu, giving her a standing eight count en route to a convincing 3-0 win and a berth in the quarterfinal round. She will face Tetiana Ryzhenkova of Ukraine in Wednesday’s evening action.

Both bantamweight Jessica Galvez (Sparks, Nev.) and featherweight JaJaira Gonzalez (Glendora, Calif.) took walkover wins on Monday after their Italian opponents failed to make weight. Galvez will face Ani Hovsepyan on Wednesday afternoon and Gonzalez will take on Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst in the same session.

In the first bout of the youth session, flyweight Karina Sarabia (El Monte, Calif.) dropped a 3-0 decision to England’s Crystal Louise Barker, eliminating her from the tournament.

Tuesday’s action will feature the tournament debut of 2012 Olympic Gold medalist Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) in a match-up with Ukraine’s Mariya Viachkina. The U.S. action will start in the afternoon as junior division competitors Ashley Perez (Sparks, Nev.) and Iesha Kenney (Alexandria, La.) face off with Alexadria Luca and Angela Iordache respectively.  

Light flyweight Marisol Lopez (Stratford, Calif.) and featherweight Dida Gonzalez (Houston, Texas) will join Shields in the evening’s youth action. Gonzalez will take on Ukraine’s Maryna Malovana in preliminary round competition and Lopez will challenge China’s Lan Xiao in her first major international bout.

The Women’s Junior/Youth World Championships will be live streamed throughout the tournament at boxing.albena.bg and bgboxing.org. Preliminary round bouts will run through Wednesday, September 25 with junior competition taking place in the afternoon and the youth women boxing in the evening. The afternoon sessions are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT) and evening action will start at 7 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT). All of the tournament participants will enjoy a rest day on Thursday, September 26 prior to semifinals on Friday, September 27 and the event finals in both the junior and youth divisions on Saturday, September 28. The junior division championship bouts will begin at noon local time (5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT) and the youth final round contests will take place at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT).

Coaches Jason Crutchfield (Flint, Mich.), William Farris (Lexington, Ky.), Michael Newson (Las Vegas, Nev.), and Bienvenido “Benny” Roman (Brooklyn, N.Y.), will guide the U.S. boxers in Bulgaria with Dr. Larry Lovelace (Oklahoma City, Okla.) serving as the Team Physician.

U.S. Results

119 lbs/junior: Jessica Galvez, Sparks, Nev./USA won on walkover over Catarina Gallo, ITA, W/O

125 lbs/junior: JaJaira Gonzalez, Glendora, Calif./USA won on walkover over Concetta Marchese, ITA, W/O

112 lbs/youth: Crystal Louise Barker, ENG, dec. Karina Sarabia, El Monte, Calif./USA, 3-0

152 lbs/youth: Samantha Kinchen, Lexington, Ky./USA dec. Ana-Roxana Patrascu, ROU, 3-0