Sports Roundup

Florin Orban, 20.12.2021, 11:23

The 2021 World Short Course Swimming Championships continue in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, until December 21st. The most notable Romanian performance so far has been the bronze medal won by Robert Glinţ in the 100 meters backstroke, where he clocked 49.60 seconds. The gold was won by the American Shaine Casas, with 49.23 seconds, and the silver went to the Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, who finished the race in 49.46 seconds.

Limoges, France, hosted a women’s tennis tournament part of the WTA circuit, with 115 thousand dollars in prize money. In the doubles final, the Romanian – Russian pair Monica Niculescu / Vera Zvonareva beat the French Estelle Cascino / Jessika Ponchet 6-4, 6-4. In singles, Romanian Ana Bogdan was overtaken in the final by the Belgian Alison van Uytvanck, 6-2, 7-5.The World Women’s Handball Championship has come to an end in Spain. In the final, Norway won, beating France 29-22. The bronze went to Denmark, after a 35-28 win over Spain, in the small final of the competition. Romania ranked 13th.

News from football now. This weekend saw matches counting for the 21st round of the Romanian first league championship, the last one this year. On Friday, FC Voluntari beat UTA Arad 2 to 1 at home. On Saturday, in Mediaş, Gaz Metan and Universitatea Craiova ended in a draw, 1 to 1. The game hosted by the National Arena in Bucharest, between Rapid and FC Botoşani ended with the same score.

Three more games were played on Sunday. In Giurgiu, Chindia Târgovişte beat Academica din Clinceni 1-0 and CFR Cluj won the match with FC Argeş, 1-0, on home turf. The last match of the day, played in Sfântu Gheorghe, between Sepsi and FCSB, ended in a draw, 0 – 0. On Monday, the last two matches of the stage and of the year 2021 are due: FC U Craiova takes on CS Mioveni and Dinamo Bucharest plays against Farul Constanţa. Cluj leads in the ranking, having 57 points, ten more than the second-placed team, FCSB.

The championship of the Romanian first league will resume on Friday, January 21, with the 22nd round of the regular season, which will be opened in Piteşti, by the game between FC Argeş and Dinamo. (MI)