Sports roundup

The latest from swimming and football

Florin Orban, 29.01.2024, 13:45

The
European U-21 table tennis championship has recently drawn to a close in
Skopje, North Macedonia. The Romanian participants walked away with 6 medals, of
which one gold, four silver and one bronze. Gold went to the pair made of Bianca Mei-Roşu and Elena
Zaharia in the women’s doubles event. Also in the women’s doubles, pairing up with
Slovenian Sara Tokic, Camelia Mitrofan won silver. In the women’s singles, Elena Zaharia won silver, and also
silver went to the mixed doubles pair made of Elena Zaharia and Darius
Movileanu. In the men’s doubles, pairing up with Eduard Ionescu, Movileanu won yet
another silver medal. Also in the men’s doubles Iulian Chiriţă and Andrei
Istrate won bronze.

In high-diving,
the Romanian swimmer Constantin Popovici has become the new champion of the Red
Bull Cliff Diving world circuit. We recall Popovici won the last leg in 2023,
held in New Zealand this past weekend. Overall, 4th placed was another
Romanian, Cătălin Preda.

At the Euro
Meet International Contest held in Luxembourg, Romanian swimmer David Popovici won gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. In 100m freestyle, Popovici set a
new competitional record, clocking 48 seconds and one hundredths of a second. We
recall that since August 13, 2022, David Popovici holds the record of the event,
with 46 seconds and 86 hundredths of a second. Popovici will stay focused on his special training ahead of the Summer Olympics Games in Paris, so he
announced he would not participate in the World Swimming Championships, to be
held in Doha beginning February 2nd.

Corona
Braşov has won Romania’s Cup in Ice Hockey. This past Sunday, in the final,
Corona Brasov defeated ACSH Gheorgheni, 5-3. The Cup’s final tournament was
held in Gheorgheni. In the 3rd-place final, Steaua Bucharest defeated
Fenestela Braşov, 5-4. Following the victories in 2013, 2015 and 2021, Corona
Brasov won the trophy for the fourth time around.

Matches counting towards the Romanian football Superleague’s 23rd
round were played this past weekend. On Friday, in Ovidiu, Farul Constanta
defeated FC U Craiova, 1-nil. On Saturday, UTA Arad grabbed a 2-1 home win against
Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. On the former team’s turf, the match pitting Oţelul Galati
against Petrolul Ploieşti ended in a blank draw. On the National Arena in Bucharest,
Rapid defeated Dinamo, 2-1. In Sibiu on Sunday, FC Hermannstadt defeated Botoşani, 2-1. Poli Iasi
grabbed a 1-nil home win against Universitatea Craiova, while FCSB grabbed a
3-nil win against Universitatea Craiova. With 50 points, FCSB are at the top of
the table, 11 points clear of the runner-up team, Rapid Bucharest.