Handballer Crina Pintea
Last weekend saw a spectacular comeback of the Romanian women’s handball side
Daniel Bilț, 29.09.2026, 13:45
Last weekend brought to Bucharest one of the most important events held under the auspices of the European Handball Federation. The final tournament of the EHF Euro Cup 2026 had four out Europe’s best women sides competing; they were Norway, Denmark, Hungary and Romania. They hit the Final Four after they had passed the competition’s group phase attended by the sides that didn’t play in the EURO 2026 qualification stage held in December. In the semifinals on Saturday, Romania conceded a 28-20 defeat to Denmark, while Norway defeated Hungary 27-23. On Sunday in the finals, Denmark outperformed Norway 34 – 30, and Romania won the bronze medal after a 33-30 win against Hungary.
The show the Romanian side put up against Hungary exceeded everyone’s expectations. With seven goals scored, Cristina Laslo proved to be the best scorer of the Romanian side coached by Ovidiu Mihaila. Elena Roșu came second with six goals scored while Lorena Ostase and Crina Pintea each scored five times. We noted the comeback of Crina Pintea to the National side after an absence of three years. She had withdrawn from competitions after the 2023 World Championships, but she decided to come back, and for this decision Radio Romania International has designated her, Athlete of the Week.
Crina Pintea was born on April 3rd 1990 in Bacau County, eastern Romania. She made her debut in handball at the age of 20 with Handball Club Zalău, coached by Gheorghe Tadici at that time. In 2012 her side made it to the finals of the EHF Cup then, a year later to the semis of the aforementioned competition. In 2015, Crina signed up with German side Thüringer, with which she won the Bundesliga in 2016. A year later she signed up with the French side Issy Paris Hand, later known as Paris 92. In the 2017 – 2018 season she was designated the best pivot of the women handball in France. Then she joined the Hungarian side Győr, with which in 2019, Crina won the Champions League. For a short period of time she joined CSM Bucharest then she returned to Győr, for another season. She has been playing for CSM since 2022. She started winning caps for the Romanian national side back in 2012 and three years later she won with this team a bronze medal at the World Championship in Denmark.
(bill)
