Sports Flash
The latest in figure skating, basketball, and rugby
Florin Orban, 30.01.2025, 13:45
At the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, the Romanian athlete Julia Sauter came out 8th in the short program on Wednesday, with a score of 61.96. The best performance came from Georgia’s Anastasia Gubanova, last year’s runner-up, with 68.99, followed by Niina Petrõkina of Estonia with 68.94, and Kimmy Repond (Switzerland) with 68.68. The top 24 skaters in the short program qualified for the free skating segment, which will take place on Friday.
In basketball, U-BT Cluj-Napoca suffered a dramatic defeated on Wednesday, away from home, against the Lithuanian side Lietkabelis Panevezys, 92-91, in the last but one leg of the men’s EuroCup Group B. The Baltic team scored the winning points just 2 seconds before the end of the game. The American Zavier Simpson was the best player for Cluj, with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists. The hosts’ best player was the former CSM CSU Oradea player, Dovis Bičkauskis, with 13 points and 4 rebounds, who also set the final score. In the last leg, U-BT Cluj-Napoca play away from home against Aris Thessaloniki, on February 5, and they need a win to qualify for the play-offs.
In FIBA Europe Cup, Group M, CSM CSU Oradea defeated, at home, the Greek team PAOK Thessaloniki with 83-74. The player who made the difference for Oradea was the Lithuanian Donatas Tarolis, with 30 points and 5 rebounds. In the other match in the group, the French team Bourgogne Dijon defeated the Estonian team Kalev Tallinn 76-70. PAOK are top placed, with 9 points. Next come Dijon with 8 points, Oradea (7) and Kalev (6). Next Wednesday, Oradea play in Estonia and need a victory to qualify for the quarterfinals, but only if PAOK wins in France against Dijon.
The Romanian rugby team, coached by David Gérard, Friday starts its new season in the Rugby Europe Championship, the second continental value tier after the Six Nations Tournament, with a match against Germany in Bucharest. Group B also includes Belgium, against which Romania will play away from home on Saturday, February 8, and Portugal, due to travel to Botoşani, Romania on February 15. The top 2 teams in each group of the 2025 Rugby Europe Championship qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Australia. (AMP)
