Sports Roundup
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Florin Orban, 08.01.2024, 13:45
We start with water polo. Romanias men’s water polo team obtained their second victory at the European Championship in Croatia. On Sunday, in Dubrovnik, the Romanian athletes defeated Slovenia, 13 to 5, after, in the first game, they had won 12 to 8 against the team of the Netherlands. Romania ranks first in group D, with 6 points, followed by Slovakia and the Netherlands, both with three points. In the last game in the group, the Romanians will be up against the Slovakian team on Tuesday. The two top-ranking teams qualify for the play-off for the quarterfinals.
Next news from handball. This past weekend saw matches played within the European Women’s Handball Cups. In the Champions League, on Saturday, Rapid Bucharest lost, in Slovenia, to Krim Ljubljana, 24 to 25. In group B, Rapid is ranked 7th, on the last but one place with 7 points. In group A, on Sunday, CSM Bucharest defeated the Montenegrin team Buducnost Podgorica, 44 to 26, on home ground. The Romanian champions are ranked 3rd in the group ranking.
In the EHF European League, the second continental women’s handball competition, three teams from Romania played over the weekend. On Saturday, in group C, Gloria Bistriţa defeated, at home, the Polish team Lublin, score 26 to 23. In group D, CSM Târgu Jiu was defeated, away from home by the Hungarian team Mosonmagyaróvár, score 33 to 27. Sunday, in Buzău, in group B, Dunărea Brăila won 27 to 21 against the French team Chambray Touraine.
The European Men’s Handball Championship starts in Germany this week. Romania qualified for this championship after a 28-year break. At the last European championship participation, in 1996, when the competition took place in Spain, Romania took 9th place, after winning only two games, against Denmark and Hungary. Now, in Germany, the Romanian handball players will play in Group B, alongside Spain, Austria and Croatia. Romania’s first game is scheduled for Friday, in Mannheim, against Austria.
We end with tennis. The Romanian players in the qualifying games for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, were the first to find out their opponents. According to the drawing of lots, Irina Bara will play Yuliya Hatouka from Belarus in the first round of the qualifiers. Miriam Bulgaru will be up against Ye-Xin Ma, from China, and Andreea Mitu will face Talia Gibson, from Australia. Sorana Cîrstea, Ana Bogdan and Jaqueline Cristian were directly accepted to the main draw. (LS)
