The Athlete of the Week
Handball player Cristina Neagu.
Florin Orban, 24.09.2024, 13:45
Three legs of the current edition of the Champions League competition in women’s handball have already been played. The Romanian clubs have done well enough to hope they can advance to the next stage of the competition, but there are still seven legs to go in the group stage and a lot can happen. As a first, Romania has three sides playing in the Champions League, which, statistically at least, means more chances to see a Romanian side in the next stages.
At the moment, CSM Bucharest are best placed, ranking fourth in Group A, with 4 points out of a maximum of 6. Last weekend, in the competition’s third leg, CSM were the only Romanian side to win their match, as Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud and Rapid Bucharest unfortunately both lost. CSM narrowly defeated the Croatian champions Podravka Koprivnica 29-28, away.
Most of CSM’s goals, six each, were scored by the team’s captain Cristina Neagu and the Polish player Monika Kobylińska. Neagu’s goals were, however, decisive for her team’s win. Despite leading for most of the match, CSM had a dip in performance towards the end of the match and the hosts scored three consecutive goals, to bring the scoreline to 27-all 57 minutes into the match. At this point, Cristina Neagu scored two more goals and the hosts again one goal, but her goals won her side the match. As she was the player who made the difference, RRI has chosen her the Athlete of the Week.
Cristina Neagu was born in Bucharest on 26th August 1988. She made her debut with Sports Club no. 5, but her big break came in 2006, when she joined Rulmentul Brașov, before playing for Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea. In 2010, she reached the Champions League final with Oltchim. As her side was dismantled, she signed up with Buducnost Podgorica, winning the Champions League in 2015. Since 2017 she has been playing with CSM Bucharest. In 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018, the International Handball Federation chose her the best player in the world, making her the only player in the history of women’s handball to win this title four times.
After the World Championship last December, when the Romanian national side failed to win a result that would have secured them a ticket for the Paris Olympic Games, Cristina Neagu announced her withdrawal from the national side. With the national team, Neagu won two bronze medals, in 2010 at the European Championship hosted by Denmark and Norway, and again in 2015, at the European Championship hosted by Denmark. Recently, she said she would also withdraw from her club at the end of the 2024-2025 season.
