Sports Flash
The latest from winter sports, tennis, volleyball, basketball and handball
Florin Orban, 19.02.2026, 13:45
At the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Wednesday’s results for Romanian athletes were modest. In cross-country skiing, in the team freestyle sprint event, Paul Pepene and Gabriel Cojocar failed to qualify for the final and finished 24th in the rankings. In alpine skiing, in the slalom event, Sofia Moldovan was disqualified after missing a gate in the second run. In the first run rankings, she had finished 51st.
The news from tennis is not good either. Romania’s representatives have left the singles competition at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, with prizes worth over four million dollars. In the round of 16, Jaqueline Cristian was defeated by Russia’s Mirra Andreeva, 7-5, 6-3, and Sorana Cîrstea was beaten by the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala, 7-5, 6-4. Both Romanian players earned $49,250 USD and 120 WTA points.
The SCM Zalău men’s volleyball team was dramatically eliminated from the Challenge Cup by Turkish team Altekma Izmir. In the quarterfinals, second leg, the Transylvanians won 3-2 away on Wednesday, but lost the “golden set.” In the first leg, in Romania, the Turkish team won 3-2.
The Romanian Men’s Basketball Cup was won by U-BT Cluj-Napoca. In the final, Romania’s reigning champions defeated CSM CSU Oradea 85-84 away from home. American-born Romanian basketball player Daron Russell was Cluj’s best player, with 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.
In the derby of the 15th round of the National Women’s Handball League, CSM Bucharest defeated Rapid 33-22 on Wednesday on home turf. The top scorer on the court was Russian Valeria Maslova, who scored seven goals for the Romanian champions. Rapid’s Portuguese player Mariana Lopes stood out with six goals. CSM thus returns to first place in the championship, with 29 points in 15 games. In second place is Romania’s other representative in the Champions League, Gloria Bistriţa, with 28 points. (MI)
