Romania’s first quota holder for Tokyo is Cosmin Girleanu – I was very motivated in my key fight in London

Romania’s Cosmin Girleanu claimed gold medal at the St. Petersburg 2015 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships and he needed a few years of experiences to make his breakthrough in the elite competitions. Girleanu won his preliminary contest over Azerbaijan’s Rufat Huseynov at the European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event and qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games as first Romanian boxer.

The Romanian boxer competed at the light flyweight (49kg) in the recent years but moved up to the flyweight (52kg) where he has to use more aggressive tactics against his taller rivals. Following the suspended European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event, he returned to Romania as hero with his quota place for Tokyo.

“I was very motivated in my key fight at the European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event in London which decided the quota for the Olympic Games. I am satisfied with my performance in London where I could fulfil one of my dreams and earned the quota for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

I had a pretty difficult match against the former Youth Olympic Champion boxer from Azerbaijan who was too tall for me and an experienced rival. I fought with my heart and gave in everything to beat Rufat Huseynov which was such a close contest in London. The tactic was not a complicated one, I had to work from closer distance and avoid my opponent to fight from long.

I surprised that the Romanian media arranged many articles about my quota for the Tokyo Olympic Games and they distributed them to a lot of people. My return back to Romania was an exciting moment for me as I know I made my family happy and I felt they are proud of me,” said Romania’s Cosmin Girleanu after his return back from the Olympic Qualifier.