Sport Roundup

The Wimbledon tennis tournament, the third Grand Slam event of the year, has begun.

Florin Orban, 29.06.2026, 13:45

The Romanian swimmer David Popovici won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Settecoli International Meet in Rome. On Friday, he finished second in the 50-meter freestyle. On Saturday, he won the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 47 seconds and 26 hundredths, setting a meet record. On Sunday, he won the 200-meter freestyle, a distance in which he is the European, world, and Olympic champion, with a time of 1 minute, 44 seconds, and 48 hundredths, the best time of the season and a new record for the competition in Rome. Next up, in a month, are the European Championships in Paris.

Romanian athletes won two bronze medals at the European Judo Open in Prague, held over the weekend. In the 48-kg category, Laura Bogdan defeated Belgium’s Laura Vandevoort in the first round and defeated Austria’s Jaqueline Springer in the quarterfinals, but lost the semifinal to Sarah Ischt of Germany, who went on to win the gold medal. In the bronze-medal match, the Romanian defeated Summer Shaw of Great Britain. In the 70-kg category, Serafima Moscalu advanced directly to the round of 16 with a victory over Gaya Bar Or of Israel. She then lost to Teophila Darbes-Takam of France. In the repechage, Moscalu defeated Ukraine’s Olga Ţimko, and in the bronze-medal match, she defeated Germany’s Tayla Grauer.

Let’s move on to rowing. Romania’s men’s quadruple sculls team won the silver medal on Sunday at the World Cup event in Lucerne. The gold medal went to the British team, while France took third place. Cosmin Iulian Pleşescu, Leontin Nuţescu, Andrei Vatamaniuc, and Ciprian Tudosă were Romania’s only representatives at the competition in Switzerland.

The Wimbledon tennis tournament, the third Grand Slam event of the year, has begun, with four Romanian women in the women’s singles draw. Monday,  Jaqueline Cristian faces Iva Jovic (United States). On Tuesday, Sorana Cîrstea will play against Czech player Sara Bejlek, and Irina Begu will face Katie Swan of Great Britain. Also on Tuesday, Gabriela Ruse, who reached the semifinals last week in Bad Homburg, will face American player Caty McNally.

Now football. Romanian football teams are continuing their preparations for the new season. Rapid Bucharest will train in Bad Leonfelden, Austria. Rapid will play friendly matches with Rapid Vienna on July 5, with FC Kosice on July 8, and with Slovan Liberec on July 9. Also in Austria, but in Bad Radkersburg, Universitatea Cluj ended in a draw 0 all their second match of the training camp against the Hungarian team Ujpest Budapest. In their first match, Romania’s vice-champions were defeated 2-1 by Croatia’s Under-19 youth team. Two more friendly matches are coming up: on July 2 against the Serbian team FK Vojvodina and on July 3 against the Hungarian team Nyíregyháza. (LS)