Sports Flash
News from tennis, figure skating and football
Florin Orban, 21.03.2024, 13:45
Only one Romanian player is still in the competition at the Miami WTA 1000 women’s tennis tournament. Qualified straight into the second round, seed no. 19 Sorana Cîrstea is set to play against Sloane Stephens (US). The Romanian athletes who played in the first round were outperformed as early as on Tuesday. Simona Halep was defeated by Paula Badosa (Spain), 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Ana Bogdan lost 2-6, 4-6 to Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic), and Jaqueline Cristian was outperformed by France’s Diane Parry, 7-6, 6-2.
At the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Julia Sauter, representing Romania, failed to qualify for the free programme stage, after she came out 27th in the short programme with 52.52 points. Only the top 24 scorers moved up into the next stage. The highest score, 76.98 points, was won by Loena Hendrickx (Belgium), followed by Isabeau Levito (US) and by Haein Lee (South Korea).
On Friday, Romania’s national football team play against Northern Ireland at the National Arena in Bucharest, in the first friendly this spring. The match is part of Romania’s training programme for the European Championships hosted by Germany this summer.
Ahead of the game, manager Edward Iordănescu said he was rather concerned with the players who do not get to play a lot in their club teams abroad. Several Romanian players have been recently transferred to top-level European clubs, such as Radu Drăgușin to Tottenham, and the goalie Horațiu Moldovan to Atletico Madrid, but they are far from proving their worth in the new teams.
Iordănescu emphasised that he relied on continuity and consistency, and explained he could not make dramatic changes in line-up just one step before the final tournament. After the match against Northern Ireland, Romania’s team will travel to Spain to play another friendly in Madrid on Tuesday against Columbia. Prior to the EURO, Romania will also play 2 friendly matches in Bucharest, on 4 June against Bulgaria, and on the 8 June against Liechtenstein. (AMP)
