On November 12 in Dakar, 17-year-old Israeli Arthur Eitan Prokhnevsky will meet Japanese Kenshin Sakuno in the final of the youth boxing under 65 kilograms. The athlete from Haifa has already secured a silver medal. Four years ago, his father Konstantin, who repatriated from Ukraine, was looking for money for his son’s trips and explained: without international competitions, it’s impossible to reach the Olympics.
Author: Stas Shifer | NAnews — News of Israel
This is about the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, not the adult Olympics. Israel is represented in boxing at the Youth Olympic Games for the first time; according to the country’s Olympic Committee, Prokhnevsky’s medal is the first for Israeli boxing at these competitions. The final is scheduled for the evening of November 12, Israeli time. At the time of preparing the material, the result is still unknown.
Three fights — three 5:0 decisions
On November 7, Arthur defeated Mexican Victor Alejandro Rocha Esqueda. On November 9 — Moldovan Catalin Mustea. Both times all five judges awarded the victory to the Israeli. Already after the quarterfinals, he secured a bronze: losing semifinalists in Olympic boxing receive bronze medals.
On November 11, Prokhnevsky won against Spaniard Pablo Souto Macias, the junior world vice-champion, also 5:0. On “Radio Haifa,” the opponent was mistakenly called a Pole. According to the assessments provided there, the rounds were 5:0, 4:1, and 5:0. The Spanish Olympic Committee confirmed the unanimous decision: four judges recorded 30:27, the fifth — 29:28.
Sakuno reached the final after a 3:2 victory over Armenian Suren Katvalyan. Israel already has a bronze from swimmer Ofir Simhi from Kiryat Bialik, won on November 1 in the 200-meter backstroke, and a bronze from gymnasts Ofir Shmueli and Tomer Tirosh in mixed pairs on November 11. Arthur secured the delegation’s second medal chronologically, and the gymnasts added the third.
Six in the morning, jogging, school, and gym
In December 2022, journalist Hagit Gorenstein from the Haifa publication “Kolbo” spoke with Arthur’s parents. Father Kosta Prokhnevsky himself was involved in boxing before repatriating from Ukraine, and in Israel, he trained his son both in the club and in the national team. Arthur came to boxing at the age of six — at the M.A.K Pro Boxing club of the “Sabtan Haifa” association in Kiryat Haim, a district in the north of the city.
Mother Anastasia described a typical day of the 13-year-old athlete: waking up at six in the morning, five kilometers of running before lessons, a short session after school, and another two and a half hours in the gym in the evening. On Saturdays, the family ran ten kilometers together. Arthur studied well and played chess. His mother compared his work in the ring to chess: he calculates movements and tries not to miss punches.
Konstantin said that only in 2022 he spent about 50,000 shekels on his son’s overseas trips and was looking for a sponsor. In an interview, he criticized the insufficient, in his opinion at the time, financial assistance from the boxing federation. At the same time, he separately thanked the head of the city’s sports department Nir Shaul and the employee of the “Dgania” school gym Avi Abukrat.
The Haifa Municipality also knew the athlete: on July 5, 2022, Arthur and his parents were received by the then-mayor Einat Kalish-Rotem. Shortly before the meeting, he became the champion of Israel, won four fights at a tournament in Romania, and was preparing for the European championship. He was then studying at the “Gordon” school and training at “Dgania” three times a day. In December of the same year, he won a tournament in Krakow, Poland, in the 44-kilogram category, and at one of the previous European championships, he took fifth place.
Ukraine in the sports biography
The Ukrainian connection in Arthur’s biography is not limited to his father’s origin. On August 19, 2023, at the European Youth Championship in Maribor, he met Kirill Gorbunov, representing Ukraine. In the under 48 kilograms category, the Ukrainian won 5:0. This is recorded in the official competition protocol.
In June 2024, Prokhnevsky became the silver medalist of the European Championship for boxers aged 15–16 in Bosnia: he defeated representatives of Romania, Moldova, and Serbia, and in the final, he lost to an opponent from Russia. The tournament involved 240 athletes from 28 countries. Arthur then competed for “Maccabi Tyson Ashdod”; alongside his father, he was coached by Arthur Zeltopolsky. That same summer, at competitions in Slovakia, the Israeli received bronze.
Konstantin was involved not only with his son: in August 2024, he and Zeltopolsky coached the Ashdod club team, which collected 14 gold, eight silver, and three bronze awards at the “Maccabi” team championship. And “Radio Haifa” on November 12, 2026, reports that Prokhnevsky is now training at the “Haifa and Krayot” club of the “Maccabi” system.
From which city in Ukraine Kosta came, when exactly he repatriated, and where Arthur was born, published sources do not specify. Therefore, there is no basis to call the young man a native of Ukraine. An Israeli athlete enters the ring in Dakar; his first coach was his father, who mastered boxing in Ukraine. In 2022, the family spoke about the Olympic goal. Four years later, one fight remains to gold.