Romanian judoka Asley
Gonzalez walked away with gold from the European Open in Rome. In the eight
finals of the 100 kilogram category, the Romanian outperformed Adir Karimli of
Azerbaijan and Italian Enrico Bergamelli in the quarters. In the semifinals,
the Romanian defeated Falk Petersilka of Germany and in the finals Harry
Lovell-Hewitt of Britain.
In the same category,
another judoka from Romania, Eduard Serban conceded defeat in the first round
to Italian Daniele Accogli.
That was the first
gold medal won by the Romanian delegation, which ranked 10th in the
nations’ ranking. The competition in Rome brought together 381 judokas from 34
countries, 220 in the men’s contest and 161 in the women’s events. Romania was
represented by five athletes.
For his performance,
Radio Romania International has designated Asley Gonzales athlete of the week.
Gonzales was born in
Caibarien city, Cuba on September 5th 1989. He became champion in the
Pan American Games twice, in 2011 and 2013 in the 90 kilogram category, a
category he competed in until 2021.
In
2013, at the World Championships in Rio, Gonzales became gold medalist after
defeating Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia in the finals.
At the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Gonzales
lost in the first round and made it to the finals of the next Olympics in
London. Unfortunately he conceded defeat in the finals to Song Dae-Nam of
South-Korea.
Four years later, at the Olympics in
Rio, Gonzales lost in the third round to Lkhagvasürengiin Otgonbaatar of
Mongolia. Gonzalez lives in Oradea, western Romania and became a Romanian
citizen in 2021. He is competing for Romania and has been nicknamed by the
fans, Asley, the Romanian.
(bill)
