Russians dominate at European boxing championships

Associated Press
PULA, Croatia (AP) — Russia won nine of the 11 gold medals offered Sunday at the European boxing championships.

World champion Sergei Kazov started things for Russia by winning the light-flyweight title, beating Alfonso Pinto of Italy 41-22. Other Russian winners included Gueorgy Balakchine, Gennadiy Kovalev, Alexander Maletin, Oleg Saitov, Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov, Evgeny Makarenko, Alexandre Alekseev and Alexandre Povetkin. The other two winners were Vitali Taiberd of Germany, who beat Kedhapi Djelkhir of France in three rounds in the featherweight class, and Dimitar Stilianov of Bulgaria, who beat Aydin Selcuk of Turkey 32-21 in the
lightweight division.

Balakchine won the flyweight title over Nikoloz Izoria of Georgia 39-21, while worlds silver-medalist Kovalev beat Ali Hallab of France 52-28 in the bantamweight. Light-welterweight Maletin won his third straight European title, walking over Igor Sashchuk of Ukraine. Saitov, making his first appearance at a major competition since winning his second Olympic title in Sydney
four years ago, beat Xavier Noel of France 41-22 in the welterweight division. Gaiderbekov won the middleweight goal, stopping Lukas Wilaschek of Germany 39-19, and Makarenko beat Mario
Sivolija of Croatia in two rounds to add the European light-heavyweight title to the heavyweight crown he won two years ago.

Makarenko has been unbeaten since winning the first of his two world titles in Belfast in 2001.
Heavyweight Alekseev and super-heavyweight Povetkin won the final two events.
Worlds silver-medalist Alekseev stopped Zuyen Viktar of Belarus in the second round, while Povetkin nipped Roberto Cammarelli of Italy 30-26.

All 44 semifinalists at the tournament qualified for the Athens Olympics.

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