"The Grau brothers are finalists at the Eindhoven Box Cup
The Eindhoven Box Cup celebrated the Pentecost with 30 excellent semi-finals in the Netherlands on Day2. France’s Hugo Grau and his brother Enzo both eliminated their rivals in Eindhoven and advanced to the final of the competition.
The last edition of the Eindhoven Box Cup was held in October 2019 and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event returned to the agenda after two and half years of break. Altogether 32 women and 74 elite men boxers are attending in the new edition of the Cup. The Competition Manager of the recent EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships, Mr. Dragoljub Radovic is the Technical Delegate of the Eindhoven Box Cup.
The third competition day of the Eindhoven Box Cup contains 23 final bouts in the Netherlands and all of the contests will be live streamed on Vimeo.
The bout of the day
France’s Hugo Grau could be his nation’s next big star and after his excellent preparation, he proved one of the top performances on Day2. The young French found his best category, the welterweight (67kg) and he met another favourite boxer, Mauritius’ African Champion Jordy Vadamootoo in the last four. Grau, whose elder brother is also a boxer, had longer reach than his experienced African rival had and he was smart from the first seconds. The French is a strong future hope in this weight class but his present is also good enough to win his semi-final against Vadamootoo. His final opponent will be Germany’s Chris Marco Eloundou who is another U22 level boxer. Hugo’s brother, Enzo is also finalist at the Eindhoven Box Cup following his success over Canada’s Jonathan Bourget at the lightweight (60kg).
The surprise of the day
Germany’s Ahmet Sor competed in five EUBC European Boxing Championships between 2014 and 2022 in the schoolboy, junior and U22 age groups. The German lightweight (60kg) boxer had more than 100 contests during his career but he was not able to find the best weapon against another young hope, Tomas Silva of Portugal. Sor was the strong favourite of their semi-final but Silva surprised him with his effectiveness and better tactics therefore the Portuguese marched to the finals.
The Round-Up
The Mauritians impressed in the first day of boxing but their most experienced boxer opened his campaign on Day2. Louis Richarno Colin is member of their national team since 2006 and claimed gold medals at the All African Games and AFBC African Boxing Championships. Colin is one of the most successful sportsman of Mauritius who is still hungry for his next success at the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Colin used his virtuoso technical skills against Portugal’s Rodrigo Arbiza and took the lead on the judges’ scorecards. The Mauritian light welterweight (63.5kg) boxer enjoyed his return to the events and eliminated his Portuguese rival which means he can box for the title with Germany’s Assan Hansen.
Belgium has excellent top team which their stars as Vasile Usturoi and Victor Schelstraete proved in the recent two major championships making historic steps for the country. Their promising development team attends the Eindhoven Box Cup and two of them advanced to the final of the Group B at the welterweight (67kg). Yassine Arfa eliminated Germany’s Adil Auragh winning two out of the three rounds and will now meet for the gold his teammate, Riad Zekri who triumphed over an Irish opponent, Damien Creavin.
Mauritius’ two-time Olympian Merven Clair was one of the heroes of the first competition day and the strong African boxer continued his winning path against Germany’s Daniel Meyer advancing to the final of the light middleweight (71kg). The Mauritian will be boxing for the title of the Eindhoven Box Cup with Canada’s Hunter Lee on Day3. Another strong boxer, France’s Cheikhmar Kone stopped his first rival in Eindhoven easily but he had to perform in stronger level in the next session to beat Germany’s Nicolas Dietrich. The French light heavyweight (80kg) boxer’s final opponent will be another German, Vladimir Bezdenezykh who eliminated Netherlands’ Alex Tros.
Portugal’s Rita Soares competed in the international stage in 2015 but after seven years of hiatus, she returned with a silver medal at the Boxam Tournament. The Portuguese had strong motivation once again and defeated Germany’s Georgiana-Diana Podaru in the semi-final of the women’s flyweight (52kg). Soares controlled most of the exchanges and joined the final of the Eindhoven Box Cup where she can expect a hard battle against Ireland’s Carly McNaul. The small but experienced Irish was in different level than Canada’s new hope, Nyousha Nakhjiri winning the second semi-final unanimously. Switzerland’s Anna Jenni and Netherlands’ Kris-Anne Mulder both had strong game plays in the evening session."
