Sports Weekend

A look at the weekends main sporting events

Florin Orban, 21.09.2018, 12:20

The World Judo Championships are underway in Baku, Azerbaijan. On Thursday, in the 48-kg category, Romanian judoka Monica Ungureanu lost to Catarina Costa of Portugal. Besides Ungureanu, another three Romanian athletes are enrolled in the competition.

Andreea Chitu will compete in the 52-kg category, Corina Stefan in the 57-kg category and Stefania Adelina Dobre in the 63-kg category. Another two Romanian athletes will be competing in the men’s contest: Alexandru Raicu in the 73-kg category and Daniel Natea in the 100+ kg category. In last year’s edition, athletes from Romania failed to bring home any medals. In 2015 in Astana, Andreea Chitu and Corina Caprioriu reaped silver medals.

We move on to news from table tennis. A Romanian pair made up of Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs was knocked out in the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the European Table Tennis Championships hosted by Alicante, Spain. In the round of 16, the two won 3-2 against Luka Mladenovic and Xia Lian Ni of Luxembourg. In the quarterfinals they lost 1-3 to the German pair made up of Ruwen Filus and Ying Han. In the women’s singles, Romanian athletes have all made it to the second round, with the exception of the former European champion Elizabeta Samara, who lost 1-4 to Margaryta Pesotska of Ukraine.

In news from football, let us note that striker Claudiu Keseru scored a goal for his side Ludogorets Razgrad in the game played against Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, as part of the first round of the Europa League group phase. Ludogorets had a 2-nil lead, but eventually lost 3-2.

This weekend will see matches counting towards the ninth round of the Romanian First Football League. On Friday, Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe is playing FC Voluntari, while Politehnica Iasi is taking on Dinamo Bucharest.

On Saturday, in Targu Mures, FC Hermannstadt will go up against CFR Cluj. Then, FC Botosani are playing visiting side Concordia Chiajna. The last match on Saturday will pit Universitatea Craiova against Viitorul Constanta. On Sunday, on National Arena stadium in Bucharest, FCSB will be playing Dunarea Calarasi. The round’s last match is scheduled for Monday, when Astra Giurgiu will take on Gaz Metan Medias.