Troy Isley made Team USA proud today at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by advancing to the next round of the mega event. The 22-year-old thumped Belarus boxer Vitali Bandarenka, 35, to win the event opener.
Isley looked like a well-rounded fighter in all three rounds. He lacked a bit of control in the second round but responded extremely well in the final moments to fetch the momentum back. He’s set to face next Russia’s 2019 World Championships gold medalist, Gleb Bakshi.
Ramla Ali made history by becoming the first boxer from Somalia to compete at the Olympics stage. However, her celebrations did not last long. The activist-cum-boxer lost the opening bout to Romania’s Maria Claudia Nechita. The featherweight bout belonged to the latter as all five judged scored the contest 30-27 in Nechita’s favor.
Here are the results of today’s fights:
Men’s flyweights
• Patrick Chinyemba (Zambia) def. Alex Winwood (Australia)
• Galal Yafai (Great Britain) def. Koryun Soghomonyan (Armenia)
• Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria) def. Cosmin-Petre Girleanu (Romania)
• Gabriel Escobar (Spain) def. Ramon Quiroga (Argentina)
• Saken Bibossinov (Kazakhstan) def. Yankiel Rivera (Puerto Rico)
Men’s middleweights
• Younes Nemouchi (Algeria) vs David Ssemujju (Uganda)
• Erbieke Tuoheta (China) def. Ashish Kumar (India)
• Fanat Kakhramonov (Uzbekistan) vs Giorgi Kharabadze (Georgia)
• David Tshama (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) def. Wilfried Seyi Ntsengue (Cameroon)
• Troy Isley (United States) def. Vitali Bandarenka (Belarus)
Women’s featherweights
• Karris Artingstall (Great Britain) def. Jucielen Romeu (Brazil)
• Skye Nicolson (Australia) def. Aeji Im (Republic of Korea)
• Maria Nechita (Romania) def. Ramla Ali (Somalia)
• Sena Irie (Japan) def. Khouloud Hlimi (Tunisia)