Sports flash

The latest from basketball and football

Florin Orban, 24.03.2022, 13:19

Romanian men’s basketball team U-BT Cluj Napoca as an
absolute first has advanced to the Champions league’s quarterfinals. Also a
first-timer in the League, U-BT Cluj Napoca came in first at the top Group K,
with 7 points. Following in descending order were Spain’s Unicaja Malaga, with
6 points and Belgian team Filou Oostende, with 5 points. In their most recent fixture-BT
secured an 85-74 win in Oostende. The quarterfinal draw will
be held on March 25th.

Also in news from basketball, The International University
Sports Federation has extended an invitation to Romania’s women’s and men’s
national teams for their participation this summer to the World University
Games in Chengdu. 1981 was the year when the Romanian women’s and men’s national
basketball teams last competed in the University Games, back then hosted by the
Romanian capital city Bucharest. We recall that in 1981 the women’s basketball team
stepped onto the third step of the podium, while the gold medal went to then the
USSR; the USA won silver. At the 1983 edition of the World University
Games in Edmonton, Canada, Romania’s women’s national squad succeeded a career-best
win, walking away with the silver medal they won after a 61-83 defeat by the
USA. In the group stage, Romanian had defeated the USA, 85-71. In the men’s
version of the World University Games, after 1990, Romanian national squad’s
best result occurred in Kazan, in 2013, when Romania came in 6th. The
Universiade in Chengdu will be held over June 26 and July 7. Initially scheduled for 2021, the competition saw a one-year delay
because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In news from football, Romania national team on Friday
plays a friendly game against the similar team of Greece in Bucharest. It will
be the national team’s debut training game ahead of the new competition season,
where attention-grabbing is the 2022 edition of the Nations League. Then on Tuesday, Romania takes on Israel in Natanya. Romania’s national
team head-coach Edward Iordanescu has summoned 25 footballers for the two friendly
games. Of them, three footballers are national squad first-timers. One of them
is Farul Constanta goalie Marian Aioani. The other
one is center-back Radu Drăguşin, signed up by Juventus from Turin but currently
on loan to Salernitana, while the third one is midfielder Octavian Popescu of FCSB.

(EN)