Sports weekend

Florin Orban, 22.11.2019, 13:40

The drawing of lots was held in
Vienna this past Thursday, for the group stage of the EHF Cup in women’s
handball. Romanian teams CSM Corona Braşov will be part of Group C, alongside
Perla Lublin of Poland, Hungary’s Erd HC and Danish squad Odense Handbold.
Măgura Cisnadie will be included in Group B, together with Croatia’s Podravka
Koprivnica, Siofok of Hungary and Danish team Kobenhavn Handball. Group
fixtures are scheduled for the first weekend in January 2020, when Magura
Cisnadie will travel to Croatia for their game against Podravka, while Corona
takes on Perla Lublin, also away from home.

Romania’s women’s national handball
team is in Japan for the World Championship starting next week. For this year,
the Romanian delegation’s set target is to secure a position among the world’s
first six teams, according to the President of the Romanian Handball Federation
Alexandru Dedu. The team’s target stays the same, even though important changes
have been operated in the pool of regulars, because of a set of prohibited
therapies used by four of Corona Brasov’s handballers. We recall Bianca
Bazaliu, Cristina Laslo, Eliza Buceschi and Daria Bucur have been ruled out of
the Romanian delegation that traveled to Japan, following allegations of
intravenous laser infusions, a line of therapy banned by the anti-doping rules.
Replacing the four handballers were Patricia Vizitiu, Anca Polocoşer and Elena
Dache.

The Romanian national football team
and head-coach Cosmin Contra have officially parted company. The news has been
confirmed by the Romanian Football Federation this past Thursday. We recall
Contra was at the helm of the national squad for 24 matches, yet he failed to
secure the team’s qualification to the 2020 edition of the European
Championship. Here is a fragment from a press release posted on the Romanian
Football Federation’s webpage.

We thank Cosmin Contra for his entire activity
at the helm of the national team’s technical staff, as well as for the flawless
way in which he managed to work with the head-coaches of Romania’s juniors and
U-23 teams. The energy and determination he brought at the national squad, when
the taking over of the position of head-coach occurred at a difficult time, all
that has facilitated the generational change at the national squad.

Contra’s
record includes 73 caps at the national team, with which he participated in two
European Championship final tournaments. Cosmin Contra was head-coach for 24 of
the national team’s official matches. His track record is made of 13 wins, 6
draws and only 5 defeats.

Fixtures counting towards the
domestic championship’s 17th round are scheduled at the weekend. On Friday, CFR Cluj takes on Chindia
Targovste. On Saturday, FC Voluntari plays an away fixture against Politehnica Iasi,
while FCSB plays Astra Giurgiu on the National Arena in Bucharest. On Sunday,
Academica Clinceni faces Dinamo Bucharest, Gaz Metan Medias takes on FC
Botosani, while Universitatea Criova is pitted against FC Hermannstadt. On
Monday, Viitorul Constanta faces Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe. CFR Cluj is at the top
of the table, with 31 points, followed by Viitorul Constanta, with 29 points.