Armenian boxers have yet failed to register any major successes at the ongoing World Boxing Championships in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku where they reportedly have had to fight in extraordinary conditions.

Most of the eight representatives of the team suffered defeats in their very first fights, while one boxer did not engage at all due to an injury.

So far, only Hrachik Javakhyan (w/c 64kg) and Andranik Hakobyan (w/c 75kg) won their opening fights. Javakhyan lost later in the second round.

In Baku the 13-member Armenian delegation and the Russian team that has two ethnic Armenian athletes have been accommodated separately from other teams in view of security concerns.

Even so, according to media reports, the fights of Armenian athletes in the rings at Baku’s Heydar Aliyev sport and concert complex have been accompanied with unprecedented pressure from the stands as local spectators whistle and verbally insult the visitors from Yerevan. In one case some nationalists began to throw stones in the direction of Armenian boxers and shout anti-Armenian slogans. The Armenian delegation later reportedly said no Armenian athlete got an injury as a result of such attacks.

Ethnic tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue due to the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with the two South Caucasus nations rarely exchanging sportsmen or doing so only with the presence of strong international security guarantees and in the event of urgent sporting necessity.

Participating in the Baku championships has been important for Armenian boxers because the winners of 1-8 places would also win the right to go to next summer’s Olympic Games in London.