Athlete of the week

Handballer Cristina Neagu

Florin Orban, 22.02.2022, 13:45

Romanian women’s handball team CSM Bucharest have
advanced to the Champions League’s play-offs, coming in 5th
according to the League’s Group A final rankings. If they want to make headway into
the quarterfinals, in late March CSM Bucharest will have to prove their mettle against
Russian opponents ȚSKA Moscow.

In the last fixture as part of the group stage,
CSM Bucharest this past Sunday played a home game against Danish opponents Team
Esbjerg. The game ended 29-all. CSM narrowly missed the win, as guest team Esbjerg
turned a last-second 7-meter throw into a goal. CSM had a good run for the
game, while Cristina Neagu was again the most efficient scorer, with 10 goals
on her record sheet. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate
Neagu the Athlete of the week.

CSM’s match against Esbjerg was the second game
when Cristina Neagu’s being on the court made the difference for the second
time around in the last week. In this past Wednesday’s domestic championship
fixture, Neagu’s last-gasp equalizer in CSM’s match against Gloria Bistrita Nasaud
saved her team from a surprising defeat. The match ended 23-all, with 10 of CSM’s
goals being scored by Neagu, who also set the final score, coming up with the equalizer
in the last minute of play.

Cristina Neagu was born in Bucharest on August
26, 1988. She made her debut with School Sports Club number 5. As a junior
handballer, Cristina was designated the world’s best handballer several times beginning
2005, when the Romanian national squad walked away with the silver medals as part
of the European Juniors’ Championships held in Austria. In 2006 Cristina Neagu was
signed up by Rulmentul Brasov. In 2010 she played for Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea,
the team with which she reached as far as the Champions League final. Oltchim
was dismantled, so Cristina Neagu was signed up by Buducnost Podgorica, the
team with which, in 2015, she won the Champions League. Neagu has been playing
for CSM Bucharest since 2017. In 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018, The International Handball
Federation designated Neagu the world’s best handballer, The Romanian thus
became the first handballer in history to have won the trophy four times.

Cristina Neagu’s record with the national team
includes a bronze medal won as part of the European Championship jointly hosted
by Denmark and Norway in 2010, and another bronze medal won as part of the
World Championship in Denmark in 2015. In 2021 Cristina Neagu decided to retire
from national-level competition, temporarily, in order to better focus on her
club activity. However, later on Cristina made public the fact that she would return
to the national team in 2022.

(EN)