The post-pandemic
\ncomeback was the buzzword for sports, in 2022. Most of the competitions resumed their usual format, with increasingly fewer restrictions. Sports hierarchies
\nreturned to normal. Fans have returned to stadiums. For most of the countries, the
\npandemic eventually became a distant memory. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We recall that in the year’s first major
\ntennis competition, the Australian Open, one of the top-seeded players, the
\nSerb Novak Djokovic, was banned from participating in the competition because of
\nhis refusal to take the anti-Covid vaccine. Djokovic was kept in custody and deported
\nfrom Australia afterwards. In Melbourne, the Romanian tennis had an all-female participation. The players were Simona Halep, Sorana C\u00eerstea, Irina Begu,
\nJaqueline Cristian and Gabriela Ruse with Halep and Cirstea being best-placed
\nin the competition, In the round of 16, Halep was defeated by French challenger
\nAliz\u00e9 Cornet in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while Sorana C\u00eerstea was defeated by
\nPoland’s Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, also in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In January 2022, a new head-coach was appointed
\nat the helm of the national football team. Edward Iord\u0103nescu replaced Mirel
\nR\u0103doi. In November 2021, Radoi announced he would no longer be at the helm of
\nthe national squad, having failed to qualify to the playoffs for the 2022 of the
\nWorld Cup.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In early February, Romania’s national rugby
\nteam in Bucharest, in the first fixture counting towards the Rugby Europe
\nChampionship, defeated Russia, 34-25. Then Romania defeated Portugal, 37-27. In
\nlate February, Romania was defeated by Spain, 21-38. In tennis, Irina Begu
\nreached as far as the semifinals of the WTA 500 tournament in Sankt Petersburg.
\nIn water polo, Romania qualified to the European Championships in Croatia, in
\nthe men’s as well as in the women’s competition. In the Winter Olympic games in
\nBeijing, the Romanian delegation’s best position was secured by the sled relay crew
\nmade of Raluca Str\u0103m\u0103turaru, Valentin Cre\u0163u and the pair made of Marian G\u00eetlan
\nand Darius \u015eerban. In late February, Romanian table tennis player Bernadette
\nSz\u0151cs came in 3rd in the Europa Top-16 tournament in Montreux,
\nSwitzerland. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In early March, fixtures kick-started, counting towards
\nthe Romanian Football League’s Group 1, with CFR Cluj moving 7 points clear of the runner-up team, FCSB. In tennis, in Marbella, Romania’s men’s team sustained
\na 1-3 defeat by Spain, in a confrontation counting towards the qualifying playoffs
\nahead of the Davis Cup final tournament. Marius Copil and Horia Tec\u0103u provided
\nthe only point for the Romanian delegation, defeating Alejandro Davidovich
\nFokina and Pedro Martinez 7-6, 6-4. Also in tennis, Simona Halep regained her
\nposition among the world’s top 20 tennis players. Previously, Halep reached as
\nfar as the semifinals of the 1, 000 Indian Wells tournament. In rugby, the Romanian national team came in 3rd
\nas part of the Rugby Europe Championship 2022. Georgia was at the top of the
\ntable, followed by Spain, the same as in the last two year’s combined rankings
\nthat secured the qualification to the World Cup 2023. However, Spain was subsequently
\ndisqualified, having used an ineligible player, while Romania,, which was
\nsupposed to go through the repechage, will go straight to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In April, in the World Wrestling Championships
\nin Budapest, the Romanian athletes walked away with four medals. In the
\n55-kilogram category, Andreea Ana won gold, while Alina Vuc and Kriszta Incze won
\nbronze in the 50 and the 65-kilogram category, respectively. In the men’s version
\nof the competition, in the 87-kilogram category, Nicu Ojog won silver in the Greco-Roman
\nstyle. The Romanian ice-hockey team Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc won the Erste
\nLiga regional competition Erste Liga for the second consecutive year. In the
\nBillie Jean King Cup’s women’s team qualifiers, in Radom, Poland defeated Romania,
\n4-nil. Also in April, the Romanian women’s national handball team qualified to
\nthe European championship, jointly hosted by Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In May 2022, the Romanian delegation competing
\nin the European Judo Championship was unable to bring a medal back home. The delegation’s
\nbest result was provided by Adrian Sulca, who came in 5th in the 73-kilogram
\ncategory. In women’s handball, in a tie counting towards the Champions League’s
\nquarterfinals, CSM Bucharest was eliminated by Denmark’s Team Esbjerg. In
\nfootball, for the fifth consecutive edition and for the eighth time in the club’s
\nhistory, CFR from Cluj won the Romanian domestic championship title. In the World’s
\nWomen’s Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Lacramioara Perijoc won silver, in
\nthe 54-kilogram category. In the European Championships held in Armenia’s
\nYerevan, in the 86-kilogram category Andrei Paul Ar\u0103doaie walked home with the silver medal. It was the first European-level medal for
\nRomanian boxing since 2015.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In June 2022, the 18-year-old Romanian
\nswimmer David Popovici grabbed everyone’s attention. As an absolute first for Romanian
\nswimming, Popovici won two world titles in Budapest, in the 100m and 200m freestyle
\nevents. (EN)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A lookback at the main sports events in 2022, part one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":122361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[29134,29572,31718,29456,42235,36542],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-123190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-football","tag-handball","tag-judo","tag-medal","tag-retrospect","tag-swimming"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n