RRI Sports Club – Handball
Florin Orban, 11.09.2024, 13:45
High-level handball has returned to European stadiums. Over the weekend, the Champions League for women’s teams started and, for the first time, Romania is represented in the group stage by three teams. The Bucharest teams that played in the League in recent years, Rapid and CSM, were joined this year by Gloria Bistriţa. The Transylvanian team finished the last edition of the Romanian first league championship in 3rd place, losing the second position to Rapid. Then, Gloria received a wild card for the group stage of the Champions League.
On Saturday, Gloria’s debut in the League was impressive. The team trained by Florentin Pera defeated, at home, CSM Bucharest 30 to 26. Gloria had not defeated the Romanian champion in the last 17 direct matches. The best scorers of the Transylvanian team were the Russian Valeria Kirdiaşeva, the Spanish player Seynabou Mbengue Rodriguez and the Japanese Asuka Fujita, with 6 goals each. For the Bucharesters, most goals, nine, were scored by Elizabeth Omoregie. The next matches counting for Group A in the League, this week will see Gloria play in France, in Metz, on Saturday, and CSM, in Bucharest on Sunday, against the Norwegian team Storhamar.
In Group B, with the Dutch player Estavana Polman in great shape, Rapid paraded, on Sunday, in the confrontation with Buducnost Podgorica. Double winners of the League in 2012 and 2015, the Montenegrin team came to Bucharest without great expectations. The Romanian vice-champion won 32 to 27 and looked like a great team. The Serbian player Anđela Janjušević was the best scorer of the Bucharest team, with 8 goals. Rapid will play their next match on Saturday away, against Vipers Kristiansand.
We move on to men’s handball. Dinamo Bucharest will debut, on Thursday, in the new edition of the Champions League, in which it also entered based on a wild card. Romania’s champions will meet in Bucharest, the Danish team Fredericia Håndbold Klub. Group A also includes Eurofarm Pelister, of North Macedonia, Veszprém, of Hungary, the German team Fuchse Berlin, the Portuguese from Sporting Lisbon, Wisla Plock, of Poland, and the French group Paris Saint-Germain. Next Wednesday, Dinamo will play in Wisla Plock.
