Sports roundup

The latest from women's handball, women's tennis, swimming and football

Florin Orban, 10.04.2023, 01:45

Romanian women’s national handball team has made a giant leap forward towards the qualification to the World Championship, In the first leg as part of the qualifiers’ playoff tie. This past Saturday in Pitesti, Cristina Neagu and her teammates trounced the national team of Portugal, 35-20. The Romanian national squad’s most efficient scorers were Sorina Grozav, with 7 goals, then there were Nicoleta Dinca and Cristina Neagu, with 6 goals each. The second leg is scheduled on April 21st in Paredes. The final tournament will be jointly hosted by Denmark, Norway and Sweden, over November 20 and December 17. Romania is the only team to have participated in all editions of the World championship in women’s handball.

In the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Bogota, an event with 260 thousand USD in prize money all told, this past Saturday Irina Bara and Sara Errani conceded a hard-fought defeat in the women’s doubles semifinals. The Romanian-Italian pair were overpowered by the Russian-Belarussian pair made of Irina Hromaceva and Irina Şimanovici, 6-3, 3-6,14-12. Şimanovici and Hromaceva eventually won the tournament, For their advancing to the semifinals, Bara and Errani were handed a cheque worth 4,020 USD and were granted 110 points in the WTA doubles’ rankings.

In Romania’s national Swimming Championships hosted this past Saturday by the town of Otopeni, David Popovici won six finals. Popovici came in 1st in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle events, in the 100m backstroke, in the 50m and 100m butterfly events, setting a national record in the last two events. Also, in the 100m freestyle, for which he is a world record holder, Popovici has already met the set qualifiers target ahead of the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games.

This coming weekend will see matches being played, counting towards the third round as part of domestic football championship’s Group1/Group 2 stage. In Group 1 on Saturday, in Ovidiu, in the south-east, Farul Constanţa defeated Universitatea Craiova, 3-2, while on Sunday in Cluj, the match pitting CFR against FCSB ended in a 1-all draw. On Monday, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe take on Rapid Bucharest. Farul are the leader in the rankings, with 39 points, followed by CFR Cluj, with 35.

In Group 2 on Saturday, UTA Arad were held to a 1-all draw in the away fixture they played against FC Voluntari, while FC U Craiova grabbed a 3-1 home win against Universitatea Cluj. In Ploiesti on Sunday, FC Hermannstadt defeated Chindia Târgovişte, 2-1, while FC Botoşani grabbed a 1-nil home win against FC Argeş. With 28 points, FC U Craiova are at the top of the Group 2 table. They are followed by Petrolul Ploiesti, with 24.