Iranian Esmaeili heads into Asian youth boxing final
Iranian boxer Amir Esmaeili marched into the final showpiece of his respective weight class at the ASBC Asian U22 & Youth Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Representing the country in the men’s youth 92kg contests, Esmaeili knocked out high-profile Indian boxer Aryan in the first round to book a final place.
Meanwhile, Amir-Reza Soltani (54kg) and Amir-Reza Malk-Khatabi (86kg) fell short in the last-four bouts against opponents from Uzbekistan to finish their campaigns with a couple of bronze medals.
Mohammad Mahshari (75kg), Ali Seyyed-Sadri (86kg), and Reza Khalilzadeh (+92kg) also suffered defeats in their semifinal bouts in the under-22 age group to add three bronzes to Iran’s medal haul in Astana.
The tournament has seen over 390 boxers from 24 countries fighting for medals across 25 weight categories.
The final bouts of the youth and U22 categories will take place on May Monday and Tuesday respectively.