Shropshire duo make Youth finals weekend
Hadley's Akash Tuqir is heading to finals weekend as his quest to claim his first national club title continues with his return to action.
The reigning European champion boxed for the first time since going all of the way in Poland to claim area honours last weekend,
Tuqir, representing Merridale Boxing Club in Wolverhampton, is much-fancied at 52kg after claiming the gold medal and belt at the European Youth event in November.
The 17-year-old flyweight is now gunning for glory in the England Youth Championships, where he reached the final last year.
The southpaw has been edged out in four other national deciders during his unpaid career, but could well be a different beast after bypassing the domestic scene completely for his first title.
Leading him back into club battle is long-term coach Khalid Hussain, who himself has just passed a Level Three course to become a qualified England coach.
He also works the corner of Telford girl Simran Kaur, a national Schools titlist who has just been picked for her relevant England talent programme, also boxing out of Merridale.
Tuqir will attempt to retain his Euro crown in Lithuania this March, which could well decide whether he goes to November's World Youth Championship in Russia.
But the Shropshire teenager is equally determined to land those elusive national honours, which showed against Zach Davis, from Hall Green in Birmingham, last weekend.
His involvement should have began the previous Sunday, but he was handed a bye when Burton's Shazad Amran pulled out of facing him.
Tuqir and Davis stepped through the ropes at the Wallace Centre in Stoke-on-Trent for the West Midlands decider, with his Brummie opponent also an England international.
But Tuqir barely had to get out of first gear to record a unanimous points victory, as the classier fighter in the first two rounds before piling on the pressure in the third and final session.
Now comes the national quarter-finals, semis and final, which will all be held at the Magna Centre in Rotherham over three days from February 12.
Joining him in South Yorkshire will be Idris Mohammed, from Wellington Boxing Academy, after his fourth win in the tournament.
Mohammed had to battle again to score a second split decision win at 64kg, after two unanimous verdicts, and see off the slippery Kaash Buttery, from Tom Lowe in Stoke.
Club-mate Husan Hussain, Wellington's first national champion in the England Juniors last year, bowed out on the same day. The duo appeared on the same Stoke bill as Tuqir.
Brummie adversary Lewis Coley, from Second City, used his height advantage to work towards a unanimous success at 49kg.
