Sports Roundup

The latest from athletics, tennis and football.

Florin Orban, 28.06.2021, 13:40

The Romanian Elizabeta Samara won the bronze medal in women s singles of the European Table Tennis Championships in Warsaw. She was defeated in the semifinals by Petrissa Solja of Germany, who eventually won the tournament. In men s singles, Ovidiu Ionescu of Romania, a European vice-champion in 2018, was defeated in the quarterfinals.

Romania won 18 medals at the Balkan Athletics Championship hosted by the Serbian city of Belgrade. Of them, six are gold medals. Gabriel Bitan on Saturday won the long jump category, Adela Bălţoi won the 3,000-m competition, Elena Pănăeţ won the 3,000-m steeple competition and Nicolae Soare the 5,000-m competition. On Sunday, Nicolae Soare also won the 3,000-m category while Florentina Iuşco won the long jump competition.

News from tennis now. Romania has six players on the women’s singles main draw at Wimbledon, which got under way today: Sorana Cîrstea, Patricia Ţig, Irina Begu, Ana Bogdan, Mihaela Buzărnescu and Monica Niculescu. World no. 3 Simona Halep and the winner in London two years ago, on Friday pulled out of the tournament with calf injury.

We switch to football now. Romanian squads are getting ready for the new football season. On Saturday, in Austria, CFR Cluj defeated the Russian team Dinamo Moscow, 1-nil. The only goal of the match was scored by the French Billel Omrani, in the first half. Currently training in Slovenia, FC U Craiova, newly promoted in the first league, was defeated by the Croatian side Hajduk Split, 2-1. Alex Raicea scored for the Romanians, while Marko Livaja and Marin Ljubicic scored once each, bringing the Croatians the victory. On Sunday, in Istanbul, Dinamo Bucharest played against Galatasaray. The hosts won the match, 2-1, due to Aytac Kara who scored twice. Slovakian Adam Nemec scored for Dinamo. (EE)