Sports Roundup
The latest in sports
Lăcrămioara Simion, 26.05.2025, 13:45
At the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar, the Romanian player Bernadette Szőcs won the silver medal, together with the Moldovan-born Austrian player Sofia Polcanova, in the women’s doubles event. In the final, the European vice-champions were defeated by the Chinese pair Manyu Wang / Man Kuai. The last medal won by Romania at a world championship was the silver won in Budapest by Ovidiu Ionescu, together with the Spanish Alvaro Robles, in the men’s doubles, in 2019. In the women’s competition, it is the first medal won by Romania in the individual World Championships after a 32-year break, since the bronze obtained by Otilia Bădescu in the women’s singles, in Sweden, in Gothenburg, in 1993.
The Roland Garros tennis tournament, the second Grand Slam of the year, has begun. On Sunday, the Romanian player Sorana Cîrstea withdrew from the first round, where she was supposed to face Tamara Korpatsch of Germany, after mentioning health problems. Last week, the highest-ranked Romanian in the world hierarchy, Jaqueline Cristian, also present at Roland Garros, reached the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Rabat.
Now we move on to fencing. The Romanian men’s sabre team, consisting of Iulian Teodosiu, Vlad Covaliu, Radu Nițu and George Dragomir, won the bronze medals at the World Cup in Madrid. In the consolation match, the Romanian sabre fencers defeated the US fencers score 45 to 40. This was the last international competition before the European Championships in Genoa, Italy, scheduled between June 14 and 19.
The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships are taking place this week in Leipzig, Germany. Five athletes will compete for Romania in the women’s event: Sabrina Voinea, Lilia Cosman, Ella Oprea, Denisa Golgotă and Ana Maria Bărbosu, bronze medalist in the floor event at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris. In the men’s event, Romania will be represented by Andrei Muntean, Nicolas Ţârcă, Nicolae Bera and Rafael Szabo.
Now news from football. The last leg of the Romanian Super League play-off took place over the weekend. On Friday, in Cluj, CFR and FCSB ended in a draw 1-1. Saturday’s match between Universitatea Cluj and Rapid Bucharest also ended in a draw, 2-2. The last match of the leg took place in Craiova, between Universitatea and Dinamo Bucharest, and was won by the hosts 2-1. FCSB is the Romanian champion and will go to the Champions League preliminaries. CFR Cluj, the second-placed team, is going to the Europa League qualifiers after winning the Romanian Cup. The teams in 3rd and 4th places, Universitatea Craiova and Universitatea Cluj, are advancing to the preliminaries of the third continental competition, the Conference League. Gloria Buzău and Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe were relegated directly to the Second League, and will be replaced by FC Argeş and Csíkszereda. For two other places in the first echelon, there are round-robin matches for remaining in the group or being promoted. On Sunday, in the first leg, in Iaşi, Poli tied 1-1 with Metaloglobus Bucharest. On Monday, FC Voluntari will play Unirea Slobozia. The second leg will take place next week. (LS)
