In Part One we looked at most noteworthy achievements in Romanian sport
\nin the first six months of the year, including European Football Championship
\nand the fencing championship held in June 2016. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
July was a good month for Romanian handball and saw the national men’s
\nteam win the World University Championship held in Malaga, Spain after
\ndefeating South Korea in the final, 28-20. The women’s team won the silver
\nmedal after losing to Spain, 20-14. Also in July, Romania sustained a 1-4
\ndefeat by the Spanish men’s team in a Davis Cup match counting towards the
\nWorld Group playoffs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In August, all eyes on the Olympic Games in Rio. Romania won five medals
\nin total, of which one has been withdrawn in the meantime. This was the poorest
\nperformance by the Romanian Olympic delegation since Helsinki, in 1952, when
\nRomania won a mere 4 medals, of which one was gold. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
But let us see who won a medal for Romania in Rio this year. The
\nnational women’s epee team made up of many times European and world champions
\nAna Maria Popescu, Simona Pop, Simona Gherman and Loredana Dinu, won the
\ncountry’s first ever Olympic gold medal in the teams event. Romania also won a
\nsilver medal in Rio thanks to the pair made up of Florin Mergea and Horia
\nTec\u0103u. The two lost the men’s doubles final to Spain’s Marc Lopez and Rafael
\nNadal in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 4-6, after coming close to winning the title.
\nWeightlifter Gabriel S\u00e2ncr\u0103ian won Romania’s first bronze medal in Rio, but his
\nresult has since been disqualified as Sancraian tested positive for exogenous
\ntestosterone, which is on the list of banned substances. In rowing, Romania
\nagain features among the sports’ greatest teams, winning a bronze medal in
\nwomen’s coxed eight. In freestyle wrestling, Albert Saritov won bronze in the
\n97-kilogram category. Born in Dagestan, Saritov is of Chechen origin but was
\ngranted Romanian citizenship in 2016. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
September saw Romania’s first match as part of the preliminaries for the
\n2018 World Football Cup. In Cluj, central Romania, the national team drew
\nagainst Montenegro, 1-all. Also in September, Romania won a medal in the summer
\nParalympic games in Rio. 20-year old judoka Alex Bologa walked away with bronze
\nin the 60-kilogram category event for visually impaired athletes. Bologa, who
\nhas been without his eyesight since he was 6, took up judo 6 years ago. He is
\ncurrently studying for two BA degrees. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In October, Romania’s national football team got its first win with
\nGerman manager Cristoph Daum at the helm, trouncing Armenia 5-nil, away from
\nhome. In their next game, Romania were held to a goalless draw by Kazakhstan.
\nIn table tennis, the Romanian Daniela Dodean-Monteiro and her husband Joao
\nMonteiro of Portugal won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event of the
\nEuropean Championships. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In November, Romania’s football side sustained a nil-3 defeat by Poland
\nin the preliminaries of the 2018 World Cup. In front of a home crowd of 45,000,
\nRomania put on a lacklustre performance against Poland, one of Europe’s best
\nteams at the moment. As a result Romania have finished their 2016 qualifying
\ncampaign in the 4th position in Group E, behind Poland, Montenegro
\nand Denmark. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The highlight of the month in December was the women’s handball European
\nChampionship in Sweden. Romania finished 5th, their highest ranking
\nin the last three editions of the European Championship. Previously, they had
\nfinished 10th in 2012 and 9th in 2014. Romania’s only
\nmedal in the European Championship comes from 2010, when they won bronze.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We continue our review of the world of Romanian sports in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":115627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[41310],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-116264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-year-in-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n