Sports Roundup
The latest in tennis, rowing and football
Florin Orban, 26.08.2019, 12:21
The Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu went up 5 places in the WTA doubles ranking, from 41 to 36. Last week she qualified into the doubles final of the New York Bronx Open, a tournament with 250,000 US dollars in total prize money. She paired with Russian Margarita Gasparian, but they lost the final to Darija Jurak (Croatia) / Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain), 7-5, 2-6, 10-7.
Szeged, in Hungary, hosted the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. Romania came home without medals. The best performance for the Romanian team was a 5th place in the mens canoe double 1,000m finals for Victor Mihalachi and Catalin Chirila, who secured their participation in next years Tokyo Olympics.
Nearly 1,200 athletes are competing these days in the World Rowing Championships held in the Austrian town of Linz. Romania takes part with 41 rowers and 11 boats, hoping for as many of them to get a ticket for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. In last years World Championships, hosted by Plovdiv, in Bulgaria, the Romanian teams won a gold and a silver medal.
This weekend saw the 7th leg of the Romanian League One football championship. On Friday, Poli Iasi drew at home, 2-all against Chindia Targoviste, and Universitatea Craiova defeated Astra Giurgiu on home turf, 1-0. On Saturday, Academica Clinceni and Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe drew 1-all, while in Cluj, defending champions CFR crushed FC Botosani 4-1. On Sunday, Viitorul Constanta beat FC Voluntari, 4-0. Gaz Metan Medias also reported a crushing win against FCSB, 4-0.
Top of the League One ranking are CFR Cluj with 17 points, followed by Viitorul Constanta, Gaz Metan Medias and Poli Iasi, with 15 points each.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
