A veritable who's who of former and current world champions made up the contestants for the 2022 Thailand Boxing Open

Boxing New Zealnd sent a team of seven boxers to this this tournament  along with  coach  Billy Meehan   assisted by  Mark Fuller and Thomas Rangiawha.

Referee and Judge   Ina Ruby Schuster  travelled with the team as an IBA Official 

A winning start was made on day two with Erin Walsh competing in the womens 57kg division she posted a unanimous decision over Phillipines entrant  Maricel Dela Torre  .

Walsh lost her second bout  in  the semifinals  to  Nilawasi Techasuep of Thailand by unanimous decision   , on the other side of the draw is former Olympic bronze medalist  Irma Testa from Italy  who was all class in accounting for her Nepalise opponent . Testa went on to win the Gold Medal  Techasuep won Silver  and Walsh the Bronze

Kiwi Mens Light Heavy Onyx Lye bowed out in fine style in his first bout losing by the closest of margins  to Thailand A boxer Anwat Tongkatok  on a 3-2 majority decision. Tangkatok won the Bronze medal

Mens Middleweight Emile Richardson  lost a unanimous decision to experienced Bui Phouc Tung of Vietnam who won the Bronze Medal

Pressing forward the whole bout  in the womens Lightweight division Troy Gratton lost to Highly skilled 2016 World Champion Alessia Mesiano from Italy on a unanimous decision in the quarter finals . Messiano won the Silver medal

Wendell Stanly  also lost to a vastly experienced opponent in Thailands Aichai Phoemsap the former 2018 youth Olympic medalist  and 2018 Youth world champion  beating the game KIwi by unanimous decision . Phomemsap went  on to win the Bronze medal .

Alex Mukuka lost to  Ian Clark Bautista  of The Phillipines by unanimous decision  in the Mens Featherweight Quarterfinals  after a bye in round one  Mukuka won the last round with a barnstorming run ,  Bautista scored a win over Chen WU Lee from Taipei in the prelims  Bautista settled for the Silver medal being outpointed 5-0 by Temirhanov of Kazikstan .

Ariana Nicholson met Nien Chin Chen from Taipei in their womens Welterweight Semifinal  after her first round bye , Chen  outpointed the game Kiwi by unanimous points.

Chen the former 2018 world Champion and double Olympian  faced Hoang Ngocmai  and prevailed on points in the first round of the draw  other side of the draw sees Baison Manikon from Thailand and Pooja from India face off for a final spot , in the finals  Chen outpointed Minikon  to win the Gold Medal . Nicholson won the Bronze medal .

Article added: Wednesday 06 April 2022