Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhnyak defeated Brazilian Wanderlei De Souza Pereira in the 80kg quarter-finals. He reached the semi-finals, guaranteeing himself at least a bronze medal. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to Suspilne Sport.
At the Olympic Games, boxing is held in the following format: boxers fight three rounds of three minutes each, and judges evaluate the fighters after each round.
In the first and second rounds, the judges unanimously gave Khyzhnyak the upper hand. In the last round, Pereira tried to knock out the Ukrainian, but Khyzhnyak survived and won.
In his first fight at the Olympics, the Ukrainian defeated the Hungarian representative Pylyp Akimov by split decision.
According to the competition rules, athletes who reach the semi-finals are guaranteed at least a bronze medal, while they need to win two more victories in the tournament to get the gold.
In the semi-finals, Khyzhnyak’s opponent will be Cuban two-time Olympic champion Arlen Lopez. The fight will take place on 4 August, at 18:22 Kyiv time.
We will remind, the first medal for Ukraine was won by sabre fencer Olga Harlan. She won bronze in the individual competition.
The second medal, silver, was won by Sergey Kulish in the small-calibre rifle three-position competition.