Former world number one tennis player Halep to bear Romania's flag at 2020 Summer Olympics

President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) Mihai Covaliu said on Wednesday that former world number one tennis player Simona Halep will be recommended to be Romania's flag bearer at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with the final decision to be made by COSR Executive Committee. 

"Simona Halep is said to be one of Romania's most iconic athletes. There is a procedure that will be followed this time as well, as in previous editions of the Olympic Games. Simona Halep will be recommended as the flag bearer for Romania in Tokyo, and the Executive Committee of COSR is going to validate this proposal," said Covaliu, who attended the opening of a photo exhibition of rower Sergiu Bejan. 

Rowing could be the discipline with most Romanian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics if the men's eight and women's eight crews qualify, says Covaliu. "We are nervous only about the time left to the competition, because the federation's strategy of approaching the World Championships has yielded results. They did not focus on the qualification for Tokyo of the eight crews. And I believe that these boats are strong enough to qualify for the next competition. So far, there are seven crews qualified; when the two eight crews are added, the rowing team will be the largest on team Romania to compete in Tokyo and implicitly most likely to win medals," he said. 

At the same time, Covaliu mentioned that Romanian fencing will make Romania proud in Tokyo, even if it does not have qualified athletes for all three weapons. "It's a little harder to qualify for all the fencing weapons at the Olympics. That's because we don't have equally good fencers in the men's foil or the men's epee events. But, I dare say we will have representatives in Tokyo who will make the Romanian Fencing Federation proud. We continue to rely on experienced people who have a duty to boost the young and eager for performance," said Covaliu, the gold medallist in the individual sabre event at the 2000 Summer Olympics.