Rio Olympics: An Update
News from judo, handball, rowing, table tennis
Florin Orban, 09.08.2016, 13:20
At the ongoing Olympic Games in Rio, this Monday for the first time in this edition, Romania came very close to grabbing a medal. In the judo competition, Corina Caprioriu got through to the semifinals of the 57-kilo category. However, Caprioriu was denied a place in the finals by Brazil’s Rafaela Silva. In the fight for the bronze medal, Corina Caprioriu was defeated by Portugal’s Telma Monteiro. Corina’s position is so far the best Romanian performance in Rio.
Romania’s women’s handball team has sustained yet another defeat, this time against: Brazil, 13 to 26. It is the Romanian national squad’s second failure, after the defeat by Angola on Saturday. Romania’s next game is against Montenegro, scheduled this Wednesday at 5.30 pm, Bucharest Summer Time. If they are to make headway in the quarterfinals, the Romanian players will have to secure one of the first four places in their group, which is a rather difficult task, given that after Montenegro Romania will face two other powerhouses of world handball, the teams of Spain and Norway.
News from rowing now. Romania’s women’s coxed eight crew came in 3rd in the first qualifying series. The US crew had no problem winning the race. They crossed the finish line eight seconds before the Dutch crew, which came in 2nd. The Americans have secured their ticket for the finals, while the Netherlands, Romania and Australia will have to toil in a second qualification round. Great Britain was the winner of the other series. It was followed by New Zealand and Canada. The next round is scheduled for Wednesday starting 3.50 pm, Bucharest Summer Time.
We go out with news from table tennis, where Romanian Adrian Crisan was unable to go past the round of sixteen in the men’s singles. Crisan was defeated by the world’s number 4 tennis player, Zhang Jike from China, 4-nil. Adrian Crisan was the last Romanian table tennis player competing in the men’s singles. The Romanian thus matched the performance he had succeeded in 2012 at the London Olympics.
