Athlete of the week

Florin Orban, 29.06.2021, 12:33

The European table tennis championships
were held in Polish capital city Warsaw late last week. For the
event, the Romanian delegation was made of the best table tennis
players of the national lineups, among whom, European champions
Elizabeta Samara, Bernadette Szőcs and Daniela Dodean Monteiro.
Romanian delegation’s set objective was to test the athletes’ level
of training ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. We recall that securing
their participation to the Olympics in Japan was Romanian women’s
table tennis team made of three athletes. Bernadette competed in the
women’s singles and the mixed doubles, Elizabeta Samara, in the
women’s singles, while Ovidiu Ionescu participated in the men’s
singles and the mixed doubles.

The event in Warsaw was the litmus test for Romanian athletes’ real level of training and performance; the
Romanians still have a lot of things to improve, while their run at
the recently-held championships was a below-par one. The 2018
European vice-champion Ovidiu Ionescu was unable to go past the
quarterfinals. In the women’s version of the event, only four
Romanian table tennis players reached as far as the round of 32.
Adina Diaconu and Bernadette Szőcs were unable to push themselves
forward in the competition. Daniela Dodean made it to the the round
of 16 but she stopped right there. Elizabeta Samara played the semis,
but she was defeated by Germany’s Petrissa Solja, who went on to win
the European title. Eliza walked away with the bronze medal, which,
all things considered, was the Romanian delegation’s best result.
Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Elizabeta
Samara the Athlete of the week.

Elizabeta Samara was born on April 15,
1989, in Constanta. Her record, among other things, includes a string
of European titles she won in the women’s singles, women’s doubles or
mixed doubles events. Eliza also won the European title with the
national women’s team. Elizabeta Samara participated in three
editions of the Olympics, in Beijing, in 2008, in London, in 2012 and
in Rio, in 2016. Elizabeta is currently signed up by the Army’s
Steaua Bucharest Sports Club.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)