Bahrain’s Price Dominates Youth Boxing Scene

TDT | Manama

Email : hussainm@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Jayden Price secured his second Asian U17 Boxing Championships gold medal yesterday, edging Uzbekistan’s Oybek Alimdjonov in the light bantamweight (52kg) final in Tashkent via a 3:2 split decision.

The bout was evenly matched throughout, with both boxers trading clean, well-timed shots across all three rounds. Midway through the contest, Price was placed under pressure after being caught on the ropes and receiving a referee count, though he later suggested he had been pushed in the exchange. He recovered quickly and began to edge the scoring with sustained, accurate punching in the middle stages.

As the fight progressed, Price appeared to gain momentum, forcing two standing eight counts against Alimdjonov to swing the bout in his favour on the judges’ scorecards. He managed the closing round with composure under pressure to secure victory on away soil.

The win capped an impressive tournament for the teenager, who finished as the Kingdom’s sole medallist at the competition. He received a first-round bye before defeating Mongolia’s Agarzadan Batkhuyag via unanimous decision. He then recorded successive split decision victories over Tajikistan’s Nazarov Damir in the quarter-finals and Kazakhstan’s Bekhan Urazbay in the semi-finals.

Competing for Bahrain after previously representing England at youth level, Price continues to build a strong junior résumé, including gold at the 2025 Asian U17 Championships in Jordan, as well as wins at the USA Boxing National Open in Tulsa and the Braga Open in Portugal.

Speaking after the final, Price said: “Good to get the win. I boxed well and gave him two standing counts, but I felt the referee was against me at times. Still, I got the win, that’s the main thing.”

Bahraini boxing officials, including HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Bahrain Boxing Federation president Rashid Feleyfel, have supported his development within the national programme.