By Gary Anderson

April 14 - Tumurkhuyag Bat-Ochir of Mongolia (right) looked impressive on his first outing in Sofia ©AIBAMongolians Battamir Ganbold and Tumurkhuyag Bat-Ochir impressed in their first outings in the men's light flyweight and flyweight divisions on the first day of action at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Youth World Championships in Sofia.

Ganbold, competing in his second Championships, showed his experience right from the first bell as he outfoxed and outboxed South Korea's champion Han Younghun to secure a comprehensive 3-0 win in the flyweight category.

There were also comfortable three-round wins for the likes of Russian Pavel Fedorov, Frenchman Jordan Rodriguez, Juan Camacho of Puerto Rico and Kyrgyzstan's  Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov while China's Ping LV scored a technical knockout against Ahmed Almesmari of the United Arab Emirates.

Britain's Muhammad Ali lived up to his famous name as he looked impressive in his unanimous points win over Venezuela's Franklin Gonzalez while neighbour William Donoghue of Ireland scraped through in a tight contest against Iraq's Kdhim Al-Saedi.

In the light flyweight category Mongolian national champion Bat-Ochir had too much class for the dangerous and tricky South African Edwin Tshabalala and was comfortably ahead on the three judges' scorecards at the end of the bout.

Iraq's Kdhim Al-Saedi lost out to Ireland's William Donoghue in a tough contest in Sofia ©AIBAIraq's Kdhim Al-Saedi lost out to Ireland's William Donoghue in a tough contest in Sofia ©AIBA



Anthony Gimenez secured a second win of the day also for France and although he was awarded all three rounds by the judges his bout with African silver medallist Mohammed Otukile of Botswana was one of the most compelling of the day with both fighters displaying flashes of power and skill to thrill the crowds inside the Armeec Arena in the Bulgarian capital.

Turkey's Mert Karaklic caused an upset by overcoming Thailand's reigning Asian champion Thani Narinram while Ukrainian Tihran Haspariants, Romania's Alexandru Ionita and Sulaymon Latipov of Uzbekistan all recorded unanimous points wins to progress to the next round in the light flyweight class.

The second day of action in Sofia sees the men's bantamweight and lightweight divisions get underway while the women's flyweight competitors also step into the ring.

The 2014 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships are due to take place until April 24.

The Championships serve as the sole qualifying event for the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games later this year.

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