By Vincent Morin
A total of 11 Boxing Canada representatives, in addition to two international boxers based in Quebec, were in action during the first world Olympic qualifying tournament, from March 3 to 11 in Busto Arsizio, Italy. Unfortunately, with 602 pugilists trying to win a ticket to Paris, the competition was fierce and no Canadian athlete was able to qualify for Italy.
Two fighters, however, came very close to obtaining this precious qualification.
In the men's +92 kg, Quebecer Alexis Barrière first defeated the Armenian colossus David Chaloyan (4-1 decision), a silver medalist from the 2021 world championship, before winning over the skillful Ecuadorian Gerlon Congo (5-0 decision). However, with just one fight to go before qualifying, he lost to French left-hander Djamili Aboudou Moindze (4-1 decision).
In the women's 54kg, Ontario's Scarlett Delgado started the tournament on the right foot with a victory over the experienced Swede Anna Svensson (4-1 decision), before winning over Kazakh Zeynab Rahimova (5-0 decision). . In her last duel, she lost her ticket to Paris at the last minute in front of the Serbian Sara Cirkovic (3-2 decision).
Here are the complete results of this first world qualifying tournament.
51 kg men
Justin Parina (victory decision 5-0) on Keymberth Solorzano (Venezuela) – Round 1
Justin Parina (loss decision 5-0) salary. Yuberjen Martinez (Colombia) – Round 2
57 kg men
Victor Tremblay (loss decision 3-2) salary. Pedro Manuel Gomes (Angola) – Round 2
71 kg men
Junior Petanqui (victory decision 5-0) on Martin Skogheim (Norway) – Preliminary round
Junior Petanqui (defeat decision 3-1) against Aleksandr Trofimciuk (Lithuania)) – Round 2
80 kg men
Keven Beauséjour (defeat decision 5-0) against Rafayel Hovhannisyan (Armenia) – Round 1
Cedrick Belony-Dulièpre – Haiti (defeat decision 5-0) against Nurbel Oralbay (Kazakhstan) – Round 1
92 kg men
Bryan Colwell (defeat decision 5-0) against Soheb Bouafia (France) – Round 1
Ayoub Maanni – Morocco (defeat decision 5-0) against Jamar Talley (United States) – Round 2
+92 kg men
Alexis Barriere (4-1 decision victory) against Davit Chaloyan (Armenia) – Round 2
Alexis Barriere (5-0 decision victory) against Gerlon Congo (Ecuador) – Round 3
Alexis Barriere (loss decision 4-1) salary. Djamili Aboudou Moindze (France) – Quota fight (final)
50 kg women
McKenzie Wright (loss decision 3-2) salary. Aira Villegas (Philippines) – Round 2
54 kg women
Scarlett Delgado (4-1 decision victory) against Anna Svensson (Sweden) – Round 2
Scarlett Delgado (5-0 decision victory) against Zeynab Rahimova (Azerbaijan) – Round 3
Scarlett Delgado (loss decision 3-2) salary. Sara Cirkovic (Serbia) – Quota fight (final)
57 kg women
Marie Al-Ahmadieh (3-2 decision victory) against Olga Papadatou (Greece) – Round 2
Marie Al-Ahmadieh (loss decision 5-0) salary. Jin Hye-Jeung (South Korea) – Round 3
60 kg women
Terris Smith (loss decision 4-1) salary. Lenka Bernadova (Czech Republic) – Round 1
66 kg women
Sara kali (5-0 decision victory) against Kitija Zarberga (Latvia) – Round 2
Sara kali (loss decision 5-0) against Angela Carini (Italy) – Round 3
Two pugilists already qualified for Paris
Note that two Boxing Canada athletes, Wyatt Sanford (63.5 kg men) et Tammara Thibeault (75 kg women), are both already qualified for the Paris Olympic Games thanks to their respective gold medals at the Pan American Games, held from October 19 to 27, in Santiago, Chile.
The last chance tournament to secure an Olympic qualification will take place from May 23 to June 3 in Bangkok, Thailand.
