Sports Weekend

The latest from tennis, football and womens handball

Florin Orban, 11.01.2019, 15:10

Monica Niculescu was unable to go past the women’s doubles semifinals of the Hobart tournament in Tasmania, an event with 250,000 dollars in prize money. Third-seed Romanian-Chinese pair made up of Monica Niculescu and Zhaoxuan Yang sustained a 6-3, 6-4 defeat by the top-seed pair made up of Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan of Taiwan, 6-3, 6-4. Niculescu and Yang will receive 1,718 dollars and 110 WTA points in the doubles rankings for their achievement. We recall that Niculescu was world doubles champion in Hobart in 2012 and 2014.

Now it’s news from football. Universitatea Craiova’s players Florin Gardos and Andrei Burlacu are on loan to Politehnica Iasi, whose player Andrei Gardos is in turn on loan to Craiova, Agerpress news agency reports, citing the two clubs’ websites. Gardos and Burlacu are on loan until the end of the current season, with the option of being signed on a permanent basis in the summer of 2019.

The Romanian football team Dunarea Calarasi begin their training programme in Antalya on Friday. Dunarea’s regulars also include the Irish player Conor Henderson, who was transferred from the Bulgarian team Pirin Blagoevgrad. Henderson also played for Coventry City, Hull City, Stevenage FC, Crowley Town and Grimsby City.

We end with women’s handball. On Saturday and Sunday, two Romanian teams will be competing in the EHF Cup’s group stage. In Group D, trophy holders Sport Club Municipal Craiova take on the Spanish side Bera Bera on Saturday. In the first round of the group stage last week, Bera Bera lost to the Croatian side Podravka, 29-32, while Craiova defeated the Danish side Nykøbing, 18-12, at home. In Group A on Sunday, Magura Cisnadie receive the Norwegian team Storhamar. Cisnadie are recovering from a painful defeat last week at the hands of the Danish side Esbjerg, 18-41. Also last week, Storhamar lost in an away match to Germany’s Bietigheim, 25-28.