By Caoilte de Barra
Day two of the 2022 European Championships has concluded. The action got underway at 11 am local time, with the round of 16 taking place for seniors and the quarter-finals for juniors.
Ukraine’s Ivan Pasych set the tone for the day and had one of the best individual performances of day 2. His slick striking and high-level grappling gave him the edge as the 2021 junior world silver medalist secured a semi-final spot.
The women’s division got underway today. Sweden’s Hanna Palmquist outpointed Italy’s Giulia Volpe in the senior flyweight division to book herself a spot in the quarter-finals, where she will meet Finland’s Sonja Pohjalainen.
Ireland’s Keith Keogh made his IMMAF debut in style, submitting the highly touted Oleksandr Kovalenko in the second round. That division was arguably the most entertaining of the day as Ieuan McKenzie booked his spot in the quarter-finals after winning via d’arce choke.
Team England was one of the standout teams of the day, winning six of seven bouts. The only loss was a razor-thin decision that was the bout of the day. Jack Humphries was the only junior in action for England today, and his win secured him a medal position ahead of the semi-finals tomorrow. Standouts George Staines and Teddy Stringer also made their presence known, both winning via submission.
They were not the only team that enjoyed a dominant day. Belgium also won six of their seven bouts. Mosvar Ibragimov showed his class in his bout before Patrick Habibora added another TKO/KO finish to his highlight reel.
The Bulgarian team looks to be on a resurgence after Radostin Georgiev and Plamen Dimitro scored submission victories.
Moldova’s Andrian Murug continued his fine form, adding a second submission finish in as many days to book a slot in the quarter-finals where he will meet Belgium’s Josué Ngandu.
Tomorrow sees the junior semi-finals and senior quarter-finals take place, with the bouts starting at 11 am. The full schedule for Day 3 of the 2022 European Championships can be found here. Live brackets can be found on Smoothcomp and today’s results can be found here.
Watch the 2022 IMMAF European Championships live and exclusively from Bella Italia Efa Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (Italy) from 27 September and 1 October 2022 at immaf.tv.
