Sports weekend

The latest from athletics and women's handball

Radio România Internațional, 21.03.2025, 13:45

China’s Nanjing these days plays host to the World Indoor Athletics Championships. A five-strong Romanian delegation will prove its mettle in the competition. The Romanian delegation’s stars are the European indoor shot-put champion Rareş Toader, and triple jump athlete Diana Ion, silver medalist at the recently-held European indoor championships in the Netherlands.

Alina Rotaru-Kottman competes in the long-jump event and Maria Mihalache will take the start in the 60m flat race. Joining them is Alin Ionuţ Anton, in the 60m hurdles race.

At the World Indoor Athletics Championships, all told, Romania’s medal tally includes 28 medals, of which nine gold, ten silver and nine bronze. 2016 was the year when a Romanian delegation last won medals in top-flight international competitions.

We recall that in Portland Oregon, the USA, Andrei Gag walked away with silver in the shotput event, while the 4x400m women’s relay team won bronze. 1999 was the year when Romanian athletes last walked home with world titles. In Japan’ s Maebashi, world title winners were Gabriela Szabo, in the 1,500m and 3, 000m races and Ionela Tîrlea, in the 200m race.

In women’s handball, this coming weekend will see matches being played, counting towards the first leg as part of the qualifiers playoffs of the Champions League’s quarterfinals. Rapid takes on CSM Bucharest on Saturday.

The second leg is scheduled on Saturday, March 29. Both legs will be hosted by the Ioan Kunst Ghermanescu Multi-purpose Sports Hall in Bucharest. In the quarterfinals, the winner takes on Ferencváros Budapest in April.

The EHF European League has already reached the quarterfinal phase, with two Romanian teams competing. SCM Ramnicu Valcea this coming Saturday travel to Germany for the match against Thüringer, while on Sunday, Dunărea Brăila plays Ikast in Denmark. The return legs are scheduled late next week.