Azerbaijani boxers vie for Olympic places

Magomed Abdulhamidov will qualify for the Olympics if he wins his quarter-final fight at the European Olympic Qualifying Event in Trabzon later today.

The Azerbaijani bantamweight (56 kg) will face European champion Denis Makarov of Germany in tonight's quarter-final which starts at 21.15 Turkish time (23.15 Baku time).

Abdulhamidov beat Hungary's Krisztian Nagy 13:9 (2:4, 5:2, 6:3) in the last 16.

Qualification for the bantamweight semi-finals at the AIBA event guarantees a place at the 2012 Olympics.

Azerbaijan's Tamerlan Abdullayev (69 kg) and Vatan Huseynli (81 kg) also fight in the quarter-finals today.

Both need two more wins, however, to be sure of qualification for London as only a final place in the welterweight and light heavyweight categories guarantees an Olympic place.

Tamerlan Abdullayev fights Ireland's Adam Nolan at 18.15 local time in the welterweight quarter-final.

If he gets through to the semi-final, Abdullayev will meet the winner of the Astmer Bilali (Albania) - Ionut Gheorghe (Romania) quarter-final fight.

Vatan Huseynli enters the rink after Abdullayev to fight Abdelkader Bouhenia of France,  a bronze medal winner in the AIBA World Boxing Championships. If he makes it to the semi-final, Huseynli will meet the winner of the Imre Szello (Hungary) -  Callum Smith (England) fight.

Three Olympic licences are at stake in the light-heavyweight (81 kg) category. Two licences will go to the boxers that reach the final, while the third will go to the semifinalist who loses to the eventual winner of the tournament.

Azerbaijan's boxers already have five Olympic licences.


/news.az/