Sports Roundup
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Florin Orban, 18.04.2022, 13:45
The championship of the first Romanian football league has been relaunched, following Sunday’s victory, with the score 1-0, of the FCSB team, in an away match against the leading team CFR Cluj. The 2nd ranked Bucharest football team is separated by only 2 points from CFR Cluj at halfway through the play-off stage of the championship. Ranking 3rd is Universitatea Craiova, 4 points behind FCSB. Also in the play-off, on Saturday, FC Argeş beat FC Voluntari 1-0 in Piteşti, and Universitatea Craiova defeated Farul Constanţa 3-0 in Ovidiu. There are 5 stages left in the playoffs.
The fifth round also took place in the play-out. On Friday, FC Botoşani beat Chindia Târgovişte 2-1 in Ploieşti, and CS Mioveni won 2-0 at home against Dinamo Bucharest. On Saturday, in Sfântu Gheorghe, Sepsi defeated UTA Arad 1-0, and on Sunday, FC U Craiova defeated Academica of Clinceni 4-0, at home. On Monday, the last game will pit Rapid Bucharest against Gaz Metan Mediaş. In the bottom ranking of the championship, Sepsi leads with 33 points, followed by Rapid and FC Botoşani with 32 points each. On the last two places, with no chance to avoid direct relegation, are Gaz Metan, with minus 25 points, and Academica, with one point. Both teams have recently lost points for unpaid debts. Dinamo, with 13 points, can no longer avoid the playoff match for remaining in the first league. Chindia, with 22 points, CS Mioveni, with 25 points, and UTA, with 26 points, are fighting to avoid the playoff match.
Now we pass on to tennis. Poland defeated Romania 4-0 on Saturday in Radom, in the qualifiers of the women’s team competition Billie Jean King Cup. In the first two singles matches, on Friday, Magda Linette beat Irina Begu 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, and Iga Świątek defeated Mihaela Buzărnescu 6-1, 6-0. Then, on Saturday, Iga Świątek defeated Andreea Prisăcariu 6-0, 6-0, and in the doubles, the pair Magdalena Fręch / Alicja Rosolska beat the pair Mihaela Buzărnescu / Andreea Mitu 5-7, 6-3, 10-5. Poland has qualified for the final tournament of the competition, and Romania will have a playoff match to remain in the World Group.
We end with athletics. Kenyan-born Romanian runner Joan Chelimo won the Seoul International Marathon on Sunday, with total prizes worth about 2.4 million dollars. With a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 4 seconds, she broke Romania’s record in the marathon competition, held by Constantina Diţă since 2005. Joan Chelimo received Romanian citizenship on May 13, 2021 and she is a member of the Steaua Bucharest Army Sports Club. (LS)
