Sports Roundup

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Florin Orban, 08.04.2019, 15:25

The Romanian weightlifter Elena Andrieş on Saturday won three gold medals at the World Weightlifting Championships hosted by the city of Batumi in Georgia. In the 49-kilogram category Andries walked away with gold, in the snatch style, with 87 kilograms. Second-placed was Russia’s Kristina Sobol, with 85 kg, while third-placed was Anais Michel of France, with 79 kilograms. In the clean-and-jerk style, Andries won gold, with 103 kilograms, having failed a last attempt, set at 105 kilograms. Second-placed was Italian weightlifter Giorgia Russo, with 103 kilograms, followed by another French weightlifter, Manon Lorentz, with 99 kilograms. So overall, Laura Andries was at the top, with 190 kilograms.

The Romanian was followed by Sobol, with 180 kilograms and Russo, with 178 kilograms. In the men’s version of competition, Cristian Luca walked away with bronze in the snatch style, in the 55-kg category, while another women weightlifter, Cosmina Pana, also won bronze in the 45-kilogram category, the clean-and-jerk style. The Romanian delegation for the competition in Batumi is made up of 14 weightlifters. The event provides the required number of points for the qualification at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

At the judo tournament in Turkey’s Antalya, counting towards the IJF World Judo Tour, the Romanian Andreea Chitu, in the 52-kilogram category, emerged as a gold medalist. A world vice-champion in 2014 and 2015, in the final Chitu overpowered Mongolia’s Urantsetseng Munkhbat, world champion in 2013 and vice-champion in 2017. In the competition’s round of 16, Andreea Chitu defeated Hungary’s Katinka Szabo. In the quarterfinals, Andreea outclassed Yulia Kazarina of Russia, while in the semifinal, the Romanian defeated the 2012 world champion, Brazil’s Sarah Menezes.

We carry on with news from tennis, as Romania’s men’s tennis team secured a 4-1 win against the team of Zimbabwe. The confrontation counted towards the Davis Cup’s first round of the second group in the Europe-Africa zone. The match was hosted by the town of Piatra Neamt in the north. On Friday, Benjamin Lock grabbed an unexpected 6-4, 7-5 win against Marius Copil, but Dragos Dima won the match against Takanyi Garanganga, 6-3, 6-3. On Saturday, Romania succeeded no less than three wins. The pair made up of Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea defeated Benjamin Lock and Courtney Lock, 6-1, 6-4, Marius Copil outperformed Takanyi Garanganga 6-4, 7-5, while the Romanian team’s junior tennis player Filip Jianu defeated Mehluli Don Ayanda Sibanda, 6-3, 7-5.

Now it’s news from League One’s football championship. The derby match pitting host team Universitatea Craiova against CFR Cluj ended in a goalless draw. The fixture counted towards Group 1’s fourth round. CFR had the upper hand throughout the game, yet they failed to score. CFR Cluj are at the top of the table. In Group 2 on Friday, in a match played in Bucharest, Dinamo defeated Concordia Chiajna, 3-2. On Saturday in the southern Romania town of Calarasi, the local side Dunarea ended in a 1-all draw the match against FC Voluntari, while in Pitesi, Poli Iasi secured a 1-nil win against FC Hermannstadt. On Sunday, Gaz Metan Medias won the home fixture against FC Botosani, 2-nil.

We go out with news from women’s handball, on Saturday CSM Bucharest travel to France to ply the return leg against Metz, in a match counting towards the Champions League’s quarterfinals. We recall that in the first leg in Bucharest, the French team won the game against CSM, 31-26.