YEREVAN, MAY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Greco-Roman wrestling team for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is now complete, with 25-year-old Armen Melikyan (60kg division) being the most recent athlete to secure the berth at the world qualifiers held in Sophia, Bulgaria.

Tokyo 2020 will be Melikyan’s first Olympics. Previously he participated in the 2019 European Games, albeit without winning any medal.

“I started training professionally when I was 11,” the athlete told ARMENPRESS’s Varvara Hayrapetyan for her Road to Dream – Tokyo 2020 exclusive. “I was the youth champion of Europe when I was 17. But before that I went through a lot of difficulties. I had a lingering trauma, and also some family issues.”

Asked about his expectations from Tokyo 2020, Melikyan said he’s going to aim high. “I have one goal, to fight for gold. I know it’s not going to be easy because the Olympics are neither a European championship nor a World championship. But I believe we should fight for everything and this goes also for the Olympic gold in the Olympic Games.”

- What’s your opinion about the athletes considered favorites in your weight division?

- Everyone’s preparing for the Olympics, holding serious trainings. None of the 16 wrestlers is weak. They say there aren’t weak athletes at the Olympics. Everyone’s going to be able to fight for that desirable gold, what matters is that you fight better at that single moment to be better. Both fighters enter the bout with equal chances.

- What’s the role of being psychologically prepared at that moment?

- Indeed, psychology is important, if you can’t control yourself on the mat then everything else is in vain. But I also believe that you can push yourself to everything.

- Armenia is going through difficult times now. Will this motivate you even more to achieve victory for your country?

 - Yes, especially now, after the war, we want to win more than ever. Our victories are greatly needed now. We want to win for our troops, our brothers. Like many others, I have lost many friends and brothers during the Artsakh war. This makes you want to be the first no matter what.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan