Rwanda's Valentin Ntabanganyimana put up a brave show during a split points 2-3 loss to Kazakhstan's Ramazan Orynbassar in a light bantamweight bout during the opening day of the IBA World Junior Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia on Friday.
The Rwandan boxer, who fought on the front-foot throughout, shook Orynbassar with a hard-right cross to the head in the third round, forcing the referee to give the Khazak a standing.
Two judges scored in favor of the Rwandan, fighting from the red corner, 29-28 and 30-27, while three judges gave the fight to his Kazakhstan opponent in the blue corner, 29-28, 29-28 and 29-29.
The Kudos Boxing Club fighter had less than 24 hours of rest before entering the ring, having departed Kigali, along with his coach Jean Claude Gatorano, Wednesday night (11pm).
The pair was initially supposed to have travelled to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Tuesday afternoon but missed the flight.
Defeat means, the Rwandan youngster will return home earlier than expected. But, despite the disappointment of losing a fight in which he gave absolutely everything, he will be delighted by the fact that he didn't go out with a whimper.
The result will generally be received with mixed reaction by the local boxing fraternity, especially coming at a World Championships, and Rwanda's first international outing since competing at the Tanzania's "Bingwa Wamabingwa" tournament in 2018.
