Athlete of the Week – Handball player Paula Ungureanu

Paula Ungureanu had a stellar performance at the 2014 European Championships.

România Internațional, 16.12.2014, 13:20

The Romanian women’s handball team on Monday clinched a 22-20 win in the game against Spain. It was Romania’s last-but-one game at the European Championship jointly hosted by Hungary and Croatia, counting towards the main Group One of the competition. The Romanian national squad, however, stand no chances to qualify for the semifinals; the team are still on the last-but-one position in the group, with 3 points and they can only hope to move to the 3rd position, provided they win this coming Wednesday’s game against Poland and on condition results in the other games turn out to be favorable for Romania. If they retain the 3rd position in the main group, Romania will be fighting for the final 5th or 6th position at the ongoing edition of the European Championship.

Apart from the win in the game against Spain, Romania’s record so far includes two defeats in the game against Norway and Hungary, respectively, a draw against Denmark and a win in the confrontation against Ukraine. Worth mentioning is that Romania was only a whisk away from securing a win against Denmark, but also against Hungary. Each time, however, Romania’s attacking bouts stumbled towards the final part of the game.

The Romanian national squad’s defensive compartment deserves all credit at the Euro 2014, while the defensive lineup’s number one handball player was keeper Paula Ungureanu, whom Radio Romania International has designated the Athlete of the Week.

Paula Ungureanu was born in Brasov, central Romania, on March 30, 1980. In professional handball, she was first signed up by REMIN Deva, with which she reached as far as the Challenge Cup final in 2004. Over 2004 and 2006, Paula Ungureanu played for top-flight team Hypo Niederösterreich Vienna, one of Europe’s strongest handball teams. In 2005, Paula Ungureanu played the Champions League’s semifinals. In 2006 she was signed up by Dunaferr, the Hungarian team with which she played the EHF Cup’s semifinals in 2008. It was also in 2008 that Paula Ungureanu moved to the Croatian side Podravka Koprivnica, and in 2009 she got transferred to Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea, in Romania. In 2010, the Romanian keeper reached as far as the Champions League’s finals, while in 2012 and 2013, she played the semifinals of the same competition, also with Oltchim. At the moment, Paula Ungureanu is signed up by the Municipal Handball Club (HCM) of Baia Mare.