Sports Weekend

The latest from football, kayak-canoe...

Florin Orban, 25.08.2023, 01:45

Romanian athlete Bianca Ghelber ranked 7th in the hammer throw event, on Thursday, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Her throw measured 73 meters and 70 centimeters, 30 centimeters below the bar for qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Canadian athlete Camryn Rogers, won the gold, with 77 meters and 22 centimeters.

At the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, the Romanian athlete Cătălin Chirilă qualified for the finals of the single canoe race of 1000 meters. He got the second time of the semifinals. The 1000 meters race is part of the Olympic program, and Cătălin Chirilă is world champion. The final will take place on Saturday, as well as the 1000 meters double canoe event, which Ilie Sprincean and Oleg Nuţă qualified for.

In the first leg of the Europa Conference League football play-off, Farul Constanţa beat the Finnish team HJK Helsinki, 2-1, at home on Thursday. The guests scored first through Joona Toivio, in the 50th minute. Eight minutes later, the Brazilian Rivaldinho scored for the hosts. The final score was set in the 82nd minute by Mihai Popescu.

The other representative of Romania in the play-off, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, ended the match with the Norwegian team Bodø/Glimt in a tie, 2 – 2, on home turf. The Scandinavians scored first, in the 19th minute, through Cameroonian Faris Moumbagna. Sepsi scored two minutes after the break, following a penalty shot by the Albanian Isnik Alimi. In the 69th minute, Patrick Berg made the score 2-1 for the Norwegians. However, the team from Covasna benefited, in the 81st minute, from another penalty shot, which was turned into a goal by Cosmin Matei. The second leg takes place on August 31, and the winning teams will qualify for the competition groups.

During the weekend, there are games counting for the seventh stage of the Romanian Football Superleague. On Friday, two games are held: Oţelul Galati – FC Voluntari and FC U Craiova – Rapid Bucharest. On Saturday, CFR plays FC Botoşani in Cluj, and Dinamo meets Petrolul Ploiesti in Bucharest. On Sunday, Poli Iasi faces Sepsi at home, and Farul is up against Universitatea Craiova in Ovidiu. The last two matches will be held on Monday: Hermannstadt – Universitatea Cluj and UTA Arad – FCSB. FCSB leads the ranking, with 15 points in 5 games, followed by Universitatea Craiova, with 14 points in 6 games. (EE)