Sports flash

The latest from swimming and football

România Internațional, 27.07.2023, 13:45

Romanian swimmers Constantin
Popovici and Cătălin Preda where the first ones to walk away with a gold and a
silver medal, respectively, at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
On Thursday, Popovici and Preda came in first and second, respectively, in the
championships’ high-dive event. Taking part in the event were 23 swimmers, among
whom the two-time world champion ion, Gary Hunt of France. Defending European champion
Popovici was the favourite to winning the gold medal. Popovici has been in top shape
for the ongoing season in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, with wins in Boston and Paris and a
second place in Italy’s Polignano a Mare. Vice-European champion Preda in turn
ranked as favorite and a hopeful for stepping onto a step of the podium. The first
two high-diving series, with jumps off a 27-meter-high board were scheduled on
Tuesday and confirmed all predictions. Popovici and came in first and second,
respectively. After two more dives, third-placed was Ukrainian Oleksey Prygorov,
followed by Spain’s Carlos Gimeno and Gary Hunt on France. On Thursday, after
two more dives, Constantin Popovici won the world title, with 472. 80 points all
told. Second-placed was Cătălin Preda, with 438. 45 points. Stepping onto the third step of the podium was the French Gary Hunt,
with 426.30 points.

In news from football, in the Conference League’s
second preliminary round, a Romanian team has made its debut with a win. This
past Wednesday in Sofia, the first Romanian team to have played in the competition’s
first leg, Bucharest-based FCSB, grabbed a 1-nil away win against Bulgarian
opponents ŢSKA 1948. Florinel Coman sealed the fate of the match rather
early, on 28 minutes. A temperature reading of 35 degrees Celsius and the
rainfall that followed made the game quite difficult, all the more so as the
footballers had to move on slippery turf. The confrontation was balanced but lackluster,
completely. The Bulgarians were a little bit more dangerous in the second half of
the game yet FCSB’s goalie, Ştefan
Târnovanu, was in no way easy meat for ŢSKA. Next week’s return leg scheduled in
Bucharest will a behind-closed-doors fixture, following a sanction issued by
UEFA against FCSB, in the wake of the fans’ racist behavior during FCSB’s match
against West Ham United in 2022