Tayfur Aliyev warns bantamweight rivals: "I've come for gold"

Azerbaijani hopeful Aliyev: "I've come for gold"

Azerbaijan's Tayfur Aliyev has targeted gold at the inaugural European Games on home soil in the men's bantamweight category.

The 18-year-old produced a solid performance to overcome Denmark's Frederik Jensen in the quarter-finals on Monday morning.

Despite claiming a 29-28 29-28 29-28 victory, Aliyev believes that there is still room for improvement ahead of his meeting against Bakhtovar Nazirov of Russian Federation later this week.

"I worked hard on my mistakes done at the previous fight so I think that's the reason I won today," he told reporters. "I had mistakes, but I will work on them to win the third fight. I've come for gold.

"It was my very first fight with [Jensen]. My rival's advantage was that he was taller, but I could make this advantage into disadvantage. For me it is easier to fight against a taller opponent."

Azerbaijan currently have 35 medals at this year's European Games, 14 of which are gold.

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