Mancini: I am proud of Italy's performance... and topping the group is our goal

The Dominican Carlos Adames defeated the Welshman Jerome Warburton by unanimous decision of the judges, after a confrontation that lasted ten rounds, at the “Zova Boxing 13” evening, which was held, on Saturday, in the “The Venue” area in the capital, Riyadh, as part of the Riyadh Season activities.

Adamis asserted his superiority, especially in the second half of the fight, winning by scores of 100-90, 98-92, and 99-91.

Saudi boxers Rayan Awaji and Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi made a successful start to their professional careers, after achieving two victories over competitors from Uganda. Awaji succeeded in resolving his confrontation with Ugandan Sudis Lubega by technical knockout at the second minute and 15 seconds of the third round, after imposing his superiority over his opponent and knocking him down twice during the second round, before ending the fight in the next round. In the second Saudi confrontation, Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi defeated Ugandan Ezra Sayle by unanimous decision of the judges, after knocking down his opponent in the first round, and he maintained his advantage until the end of the fight, deciding the confrontation with a score of 40-35 in his first professional test. The rest of the confrontations witnessed the victory of Australian Jason Moloney over Mexican Andres Teran by unanimous decision after ten rounds in the bantamweight division, while Frenchman Bruno Sauras defeated Polish Kamil Bednarek by unanimous decision in super-middleweight. In other matches, Uzbek Jakhongir Zukirov decided his fight against Canadian Brandon Colantonio by knockout at the end of the first round, while his compatriot Tolu Buimatov needed only a minute and 29 seconds of the first round to end his fight against Ghanaian Moro Kanla by knockout. Colombian Alexander Castro also defeated Russian Radjab Butaev by a majority decision of the judges, while Russian Daryal Kochmenov snatched victory over Mexican Ivan Ortiz by a split decision of the judges. Roberto Mancini, coach of the Italian national team, believes that his team deserves to be proud of what it has achieved so far, as it is on the cusp of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the European Nations League, before playing the last match in Group A, in the first classification of the tournament, against Belgium. The Italian national team, which lost its opening match in the tournament at home to Belgium, heads to Brussels buoyed by a remarkable 3-1 victory over France at the San Siro Stadium. This is the first defeat for the French under the leadership of their new coach, Zinedine Zidane. Italy will guarantee its qualification to the quarter-finals if it avoids defeat against Belgium, or if France suffers a sudden loss at home to Turkey, which did not score any points and whose relegation has already been confirmed. Despite the widespread praise the team received after the victory over France, Mancini, who returned to take over the job for a second term this summer, stresses the need for his players to fully focus on the “King Baudouin” stadium, in an effort to secure the top spot in the group. Mancini said in statements to the Italian Sky Sports network: “Our mere presence here, and the competition to qualify in this group that includes France and Belgium, is in itself a source of pride.” He added: “Since my return, I have always noticed positive things. I expected this level, and I remained optimistic despite the defeat against Belgium in the first match. “I liked the players’ reaction, as there were indicators that gave me confidence.” He continued: “We realize that the task will not be easy, as Belgium is a wonderful team that includes players with high technical skills, but we will play in our usual style, and strive to achieve victory to finish the group stage in first place.” The Norway national team won 3-1 over its guest, Wales, on Saturday, in the fifth round of the group stage in the first level of the European Nations League. Antonio Nosa scored the first goal for Norway in the 59th minute, with a powerful low shot, then Andreas Schildrup added a second goal in the 68th minute from a pass from Erling Haaland, who completed the hat-trick with a penalty kick in the 88th minute. On the other hand, Wales' only goal came in the 79th minute from David Brooks' goal alone. This victory raised Norway's score to 6 points in second place, while Wales is at the bottom of the standings with 3 points.