\n
\n<\/p>\n
2019 was a pre-Olympic year marked by
\ncompetitions meant to ensure tickets for the Olympic Games in Japan. Although
\n2019 wasn’t a good year in term of performances obtained by the Romanian
\nathletes, there were several performances, which are worth mentioning. Let’s
\nhave a look at the main sporting events of the first half of 2019. <\/p>\n
The month of January saw a fresh
\nedition of Australian Open where the best Romanian player in the competition, Simona
\nHalep, was eliminated by Serena Williams in the round of 16. The US challenger
\nwon the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.<\/p>\n
At the European Fencing Cup in
\nItaly Romania was represented by the team of the Army’s Sports Club Steaua
\nBucharest made up of Ana-Maria Popescu, Alexandra Predescu, Greta Veres and
\nRaluca Sbarcia, who obtained the bronze medals.<\/p>\n
In February, a pair made up of
\nIrina Begu and Monica Niculescu won the doubles of the WTA tennis tournament in
\nHua Hin, Thailand, a competition with 250 thousand dollars in prize money. The
\nRomanians outperformed in the finals the Russian-Chinese pair Ana Blinkova \/
\nYafan Wang 2-6, 6-1 and 12-10 in super tie-break. That was the second WTA title
\nwon by Begu and Niculescu after the one in Hobart in 2012. In February Simona
\nHelep made it to the finals of the tennis tournament in Doha where she lost to
\nBelgian challenger Elise Mertens in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alina Rotaru obtained the best
\nresult for the Romanian delegation at the European indoor athletics
\nchampionship held in Glasgow, the fifth position in the ranking of the long
\njump event with 6 meters and 64 centimeters. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ana Maria Popescu won the Epee
\nGrand Prix in Budapest after defeating Young Mi Kang of South Korea in the
\nfinals. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Shooters from Romania obtained two
\nmedals at the European Championship 10 m held in Croatia. Laura Coman reaped
\ngold in the rifle event and the Romanian women’s team came third in the same
\nevent of the aforementioned competition. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Weight-lifters from Romania
\nobtained excellent results in the European Weightlifting Championship held in
\nBatumi, Georgia. Athletes from our country walked away with 14 medals out of
\nwhich 6 were gold. The gold medalists were Elena Andries and Loredana Toma in
\nthe 49 and 64 kilograms categories. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the European Wrestling
\nChampionships in Bucharest, Romania obtained four medals. In the women’s
\ncontest, Kriszta Incze won silver in the 65 kilogram category while Andreea
\nBeatrice Ana obtained bronze in the 55 kilograms. In the men’s contest, the
\nGreco-Roman style, FlorinTita of Romania walked away with silver in the 55
\nkilogram category while Alin Alexuc Ciurariu reaped bronze in the 130
\nkilograms. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian delegation walked away
\nwith no medals from the European Gymnastics Championships held in the Polish
\ncity of Szczecin in April. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian women’s tennis side
\nlost to France in Rouen 2-3. Halep scored for Romania in the matches against Kristina
\nMladenovic and Caroline Garcia. The decisive match was the doubles when Halep
\nand Niculescu lost to Garcia and Mladenovic. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer won
\nthe double contest of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid. The Romanian-Dutch pair
\ndefeated Argentinean Diego Schwartzman and Austrian Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-3. In
\nthe single contest, Simona Halep of Romania made it to the finals where she conceded
\ndefeat to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4. Romania’s handball side CSM Bucharest won the
\nChallenge Cup in May after a 22-all away draw and 26-20 home win. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CFR Cluj won the domestic football
\nchampionship while Viitorul Constanta walked away with Romania’s Cup after a
\n2-1 win against Astra Giurgiu in the finals. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Rowers from Romania walked away
\nwith 6 medals from the European Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland.
\nRomania’s teams of eight ended on the first position and kept their continental
\ntitle while silver went to our men’s, women’s pairs and our women’s four.
\nRomania came third in the men’s double sculls.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Minsk in Belarus hosted the
\nEuropean Games where Romania obtained two gold medals, three silver and five
\nbronze. The gold medalists were Laura Georgeta Coman in the ten meter rifle,
\nand the Romanian pair made up of Catalin Chirila and Victor Mihalachi in the
\n1000 meter race. Dacian Barna and Andreea Bogati reaped silver in the aerobic
\ngymnastics mixed event and so did Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs in the
\nmixed doubles of the table tennis contest. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A Romanian women’s team made up of
\nBernadette Szocs, Elisabeta Samara and Daniela Dodean walked away with silver
\nfrom the team’s contest. Sambo wrestlers Daniela Poroineanu, Anda Mihaela
\nValvoi, Alina Petronela Paunescu ended on the third position in the standings.
\nAlso bronze went to Romania’s aerobic gymnasts in the group contest. Krista
\nIncze won bronze in the wrestling contest of the 62 kilogram category<\/p>\n
(translated by bill)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A look at some of the best performances obtained by the Romanian athletes in 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":119726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[41775,28915,30355,29094,30740],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-120247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-bertens","tag-bucharest","tag-cfr-cluj","tag-halep","tag-steaua"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n