The Year in Sports – Part II

A look back at the highlights of the year in Romanian sports.

Florin Orban, 29.12.2017, 12:38

In July, the highlight was, of course, the Wimbledon tennis
tournament. Romania’s best performer in the women’s competition was Monica
Niculescu. Together with Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan, Niculescu reached the
women’s doubles final, where she lost to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
of Russia, 6-nil, 6-nil.

Closer to home, the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv hosted by European
Kayak-Canoe Championships. The pair made up of Leonid Carp and Victor Mihalachi
grabbed silver in the 500-m double-canoe race. Also in July, Romania hosted the
BRD Bucharest Open, the most prestigious WTA tournament in Romania. Irina Begu
put on a stellar performance. She won both the singles and the doubles events,
together with another Romanian, Raluca Olaru. In the singles, Begu didn’t lose
a single set throughout the entire competition. In the final match she defeated
Julia Goerges of Germany, 6-3, 7-5. In the doubles competition, Irina Begu and
Raluca Olaru defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium and Demi Schuurs of the
Netherlands, 6-3, 6-3.

August occasioned a new edition of the World Kayak-Canoe
Championships, hosted by the Czech Republic. The only medal for Romania was won
by Victor Mihalachi and Leonid Carp in the men’s double-canoe 500-m race. From
the world of wrestling, Alina Vuc grabbed silver for Romania in the 48-kg
category at the World Championships hosted by Paris, France. It was the first
medal ever won by a Romanian wrestler in the history of the World
Championships. In tennis, the pair made up of Horia Tecau of Romania and Dutch
Jean-Julien Rojer won the doubles final in the ATP tournament of Winston-Salem,
hosted by North Carolina, the United States. In the final match, Tecau and
Rojer won 6-3, 6-4 against Julio Peralta of Chile and Horacio Zeballos of
Argentina.

In September, the two tennis player won the doubles event at the US
Open, one of the best achievements in Romanian sports in 2017. In the final
match Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer outperformed Feliciano Lopez and Marc
Lopez of Spain.

At the European Aerobic Gymnastics Championships hosted by Ancona,
Italy, Romania won three gold medals and three bronze medals. Romania’s
athletes prevailed in the team and trio and group events. The bronze medals
were won in the trop, aero dance and mixed pair events. Andrea Bogati had a
particularly remarkable performance, contributing to no less than four medals
won by Romania.

Also in September the American city of Florida hosted the World
Rowing Championships, which marked Romania’s comeback to the elite of world
rowing. Ionela-Livia Lehaci and Gianina-Elena Beleaga won the women’s
lightweight double-scull event, while the eight crew, made up of Ioana
Vrinceanu, Viviana-Iuliana Bejinariu, Mihaela Petrila, Iuliana Popa, Madalina
Beres, Denisa Tilvescu, Adelina Bogus, Laura Oprea and cox Daniela Druncea won
gold. Unfortunately, the World Gymnastics Championships hosted by Montreal,
Canada, brought no medals for Romania. The closest who came on stepping onto
the podium was Marian Dragulescu, Romania’s veteran athlete, who ranked 4th
in the vault finals.

The highlight of October was Simona Halep climbing to the top
position in women’s tennis rankings. Halep became the world’s number one tennis
player after reaching the finals of the WTA tournament in Beijing. Halep had an
excellent run in Beijing, ousting 6-2, 6-2 Maria Sharapova of Russia, who
denied Halep’s first win in the French Open in 2014. Then came a clear win
against another rival, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 6-4, who actually denied
Halep’s second attempt at winning Roland Garros earlier this year.
Unfortunately, Halep lost the final to Caroline Garcia of France, 4-6, 6-7,
although did not alter the world standings.

In November, the Romanian handball club CSM Bucharest won the
Champions League Group A, with 10 points in six games. The Romanian side has
advanced to the competition’s main group phase with six points. CSM has been
drawn in a Group 1 alongside Gyor of Hungary, Rostov-Don of Russia, Nykøbing
Falster Håndboldclub and Midtjylland, both of Denmark, and Slovenia’s Krim
Ljubljana.

The month of December brought some good results in weightlifting. At
the World Championships hosted by Anaheim, the United States, Romania grabbed four
medals. Loredana Toma swept the board in the women’s 63-kg category, winning
the snatch, clean and jerk and total events. Dumitru Captari won bronze in the
snatch event in the men’s 77-kg category.

The last important competition of the year was the European Handball
Championship of Germany. After a good start in Group A, Romania was ousted in
the round of last 16 by the Czech Republic. The trophy went to France, who
defeated Norway in the final.