\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nthe Year 2019 in sports also brought the end of the domestic footballs season.
\nAs an absolute first, Viitorul Constanta won Romania’s Super Cup, having
\nsecured a 1-nil win against CFR Cluj, in a match hosted by the southern
\nRomanian town of Ploiesti. Also as an absolute first in July, a Romanian tennis
\nplayer won the Wimbledon tournament in the ladies’ singles event since in the
\nfinal, Simona Halep thrashed US challenger Serena Williams, rated as the
\ngreatest woman tennis player of all time, 6-2, 6-2. Then the Bucharest Open was
\nwon by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who in the final outclassed Romania’s
\nPatricia Tig, 6-2, 6-nil. Also in July, at the World Fencing Championship in
\nBudapest, the Romanian Bianca Pascu walked away with bronze in the women’s
\nindividual saber event. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Early in August
\n2019, the Romanian tennis player Patricia Tig won the WTA tournament in
\nKarlsruhe, an event with 125,000 USD in prize money. In the final, Tig defeated
\nBelgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. In the men’s doubles, the pair made
\nof Horia Tec\u0103u and Jean-Julien Rojer wasted the opportunity to win the ATP
\ntournament in Washington, and event with one million and nine hundred thousand
\nUS dollars up for grabs. In the final, the Romanian-Dutch pair was defeated by
\nRaven Klaasen and Michael Venus of South Africa and New Zealand, respectively, 3-6,
\n6-3, 10-2. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the World Rowing
\nChampionships held in Szeged, Hungary, the Romanian delegation did not win any
\nmedal. Best-placed were Victor Mihalachi and C\u0103t\u0103lin Chiril\u0103, who came in 5th
\nin the final of the 1000m men’s canoe double, thus securing their qualification
\nfor the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Rounding off the month of
\nAugust was the silver medal won by L\u0103cr\u0103mioara Perijoc at the European Women’s
\nBoxing Championships in Madrid. In the 54-kilogram category, Perijoc defeated
\nRussian challenger Karina Tazabekova.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In September 2019,
\nthe Romanian delegation won two silver medals in the World Rowing Championships
\nin Linz. The first medal went to the women’s double scull crew made of Nicoleta-Ancu\u0163a
\nBodnar and Simona Geanina Radi\u015f and the men’s coxless four made of Mihai\u0163\u0103
\nVasile \u0162ig\u0103nescu, Mugurel Vasile Semciuc, \u015etefan Constantin Berariu and Cosmin
\nPascari. Seven of Romania’ s crews secured their qualification to the 2020
\nedition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The women’s lightweight double scull
\ncrew, women’s coxless four and the men’s coxless four crews. Then there were
\nalso the men’s double sculls, women’s double sculls, women’s coxless pair and
\nmen’s coxless pair crews. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the European
\nTable tennis Championships in Nantes, France, Romania won gold, securing a
\n3-nil win against Portugal. Romania’s points were earned by Bernadette Sz\u0151cs, Daniela
\nDodean Monteiro and Elizabeta Samara. Romania thus added its 5th European title
\nto its record. We recall Romania was European champion in 1992, 2002, 2005 and 2017.
\nAlso in September, Romanian wrestler Alina Vuc won silver in the 50-kilogram category
\nat the World Wrestling Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In October 2019, the
\nWorld Athletics Championships were held in Qatar. The 10-strong Romanian
\ndelegation was unable to win any medal whatsoever. Best-placed was Alin
\nFirfirica, who came in 4th in the discus throw event. Then the World
\nGymnastics Championships in Stuttgart were also held in October. The Romanian
\ndelegations had yet again failed to secure qualification to the 2020 edition of
\nthe Olympic Games. Best-placed was Marian Dragulescu, who came in 4th
\nin the vault event. Dragulescu booked his ticket for the 2020 edition of the
\nOlympic Games in Tokyo, in the individual vault event. In Japan, representing
\nRomania will be Maria Holbura, in the individual all-round event. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Also in October, the
\nRomanian-Dutch pair made of Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer won final of the
\nATP tournament in Basel, an event with more than two million USD in prize
\nmoney. In the final, Tecau and Rojer secured a 7-5, 6-3 win against the
\nall-American pair made of Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In early November
\n2019, the Romanian fencer Ana-Maria Popescu won the World Cup epee stage in
\nTallin, Estonia. In the final, Ana-Maria Popescu defeated Russia’s Violeta
\nKolobova, 15-13. Then the Chinese city of Putian played host to the final of
\nthe World Shooting Sports Federation World Cup, an event where the Romanian
\nLaura Coman won bronze in the 10m air rifle event. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Also in November,
\nRomania’s national football team wasted the opportunity to qualify for the EURO
\n2020, having sustained a nil-2 defeat by Sweden in Bucharest. Then In Madrid,
\nRomanian was thrashed by Spain, 5-nil. In Group F of the preliminaries,
\nqualifying for the EURO 2020 were Spain and Sweden. Romania’s last-ditch chance
\nto advance to EURO 2020 is the UEFA National League play-offs. In the play-offs
\nsemifinal, Cosmin Contra’s trainees go against Iceland in March 2020, away from
\nhome. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In December 2019, Dinamo
\nBucharest’s men’s handball team qualified for the Champions League’s play-offs,
\nwith a win-all record in the competition’s group stage. In the play-offs,
\nDinamo Bucharest face Portuguese opponents Sporting Lisbon. The double-legged
\ntie will be held in February 2020. It will be a reenactment of the previous
\nedition of the League, when in the final; Sporting Lisbon won both legs. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In women’s handball,
\nattention-grabbing was the World Championship in Japan. Romanian came in 12th
\naccording to the final rankings. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Also in December
\n2019, the Romanian football team CFR Cluj succeeded the most remarkable feat in
\nclub football in recent years. CFR was 2nd-placed in Europa League’s
\nGroup E and advanced to the competition’s round of 16. In February 2020, CFR
\ntake on Spanish contenders FC Seville. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
—–<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second part of the headline-hitting sports events 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":[29507,30290,28900],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-120249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-horia-tecau","tag-patricia-tig","tag-simona-halep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n