Sports weekend
The latest from men's handball, indoor athletics, gymnastics, rugby and football
Florin Orban, 03.03.2023, 01:45
Romanian men’s handball team Dinamo Bucharest on Thursday sustained an away defeat by the narrowest of margins, 33 to 34, in the game against German title holders Magdeburg. It was the last match Dinamo played in the Champions League’s Group A. Dinamo came in 5th, according to the final rankings. French team Paris Saint-Germain was at the top of the table in Group A, while Magdeburg was the runner-up team. The first two teams in descending order secured their direct qualification to the Champions League’s quarterfinals. According to a round-robin system, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th -placed teams in Groups A and B will play the playoff fixtures, in a bid to advance to the League’s quarterfinals. Dinamo are pitted against the other German team in the league, THW Kiel. Romanian title holders will play the first leg on March 22 in Bucharest, while the return leg is scheduled a week later in Germany.
As part of the European Indoor Athletics Championships held in Turkyie’s Istanbul, the Romanian athlete Daniela Stanciu this past Thursday qualified to the high-jump finals. Stanciu jumped over the horizontal bar placed at 1 meter 91 centimeters, just as the other seven athletes who made it to the final. However, decisive for the qualification to the finals was the number of attempts each of the athletes needed to meet the set target. Stanciu needed two attempts, just Serbia’s Angelina Topic and Germany’s Christina Honsel. The final is scheduled on Sunday morning.
At the World Cup in Gymnastics, held in Qatar’s Doha, the Romanian gymnasts have qualified to four of the competition’s finals. On Friday, Sabrina Maneca Voinea will prove her mettle in the women’s vault finals. On Saturday, Sabrina Maneca Voinea will again compete in the beam and floor finals, while Andrei Muntean competes in the men’s parallel bars finals.
This coming Sunday in Tbilisi, Romania’s national rugby team take on Georgia, in a fixture counting towards the semi-finals of the Rugby Europe Championship 2023. 33 athletes have been summoned for the match, with 22 of them playing in the domestic championship and 11 being signed up by French clubs. According to the as-it-stands world rankings, Georgia are 12th-placed, while Romania, 20th-placed.
We end with news from football. This week saw fixtures being played, counting towards the Romanian Super League’s 28th round. On Tuesday in Sibiu, Universitatea Cluj defeated FC Hermannstadt 1-nil. In Ploieşti, the match pitting Chindia Târgovişte and FC U Craiova ended in a blank draw, then in Ovidiu, Farul Constanţa won the game against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, 2-nil. On Wednesday, FC Voluntari grabbed a 3-nil away win against Dacia Mioveni, Universitatea Craiova secured a 1-nil home win against FC Argeş, while Rapid Bucharest defeated FC Botosani away from home, 2-1. In Cluj on Thursday, CFR defeated UTA Arad, 2-1, while in Bucharest, FCSB a trounced Petrolul Ploiesti, 4-1. Fixtures counting towards the league’s 29th round are scheduled at the weekend. On Friday, Universitatea Cluj go against Farul Constanța. On Saturday, FC U Craiova play a home game against FC Botosani, while in Bucharest, Rapid play FC Hermannstadt. On Sunday, Dacia Mioveni face Chindia Targoviste, Petrolul from Ploiesti take on Universitatea Craiova, while UTA Arad play FCSB. On Monday, FC Voluntari are pitted against FC Argeș, while Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe face CFR Cluj. Farul are at the top of the table, with 61 points, followed by CFR, with 59. (EN)
