Sports Roundup

A roundup of the main sporting events

Florin Orban, 30.04.2019, 12:08

The main
headline-grabbing event these days is the World Table Tennis Championship in
Budapest, Hungary. Romanian player Ovidiu Ionescu and Alvaro Robles of Spain
won silver in the men’s doubles. In the final they lost to Long Ma and Chuqin
Wang of China. This was the only medal won by Romania in this year’s edition
and the first for Spain.

The Romanian men’s
handball club CSM Bucharest qualified to the Challenge Cup final. In the second
leg of the semifinals, the team from Bucharest defeated HC Neva Sankt
Petersburg of Russia at home, 25-20. CSM Bucharest had also won the previous
leg, 26-24 away from home. In the final CSM will take on Madeira Andebol of
Portugal, which in the semis ousted AEK Athens of Greece, last year’s finalist.
The defending champions are Potaissa Turda. Another three Romanian clubs won
the trophy over the years: Steaua Bucharest in 2006, UCM Resita in 2007, 2008
and 2009 and Odorheiu Secuiesc in 2015.

We move on to
news from ice hockey. The World Ice Hockey Championship is underway in Tallinn,
Estonia. Romania has won the first two matches played in the third-tier league.
On day one Romania won 4-3 against the host country, Estonia, after extra time
and the penalty shootout. In the second game Romania defeated Japan 3-2, after Japan
led nil-2. On Wednesday, the Netherlands will play Ukraine, Japan will play
Estonia and Romania will play Poland.

Matches counting
towards 7th round of the Romanian football championship were played
this weekend. In Group 2, Gaz Metan Medias won 2-nil against Concordia Chiajna
away from home. On Saturday, Dunarea Calarasi drew nil-all against FC Hermannstadt
at home, while Dinamo Bucharest won 2-1 against FC Voluntari. On Sunday, FC
Botosani won 3-nil against Poli Iasi on home turf. In Group 1, on Sunday, FCSB
won 1-nil against Astra Giurgiu at home. On Monday, Universitatea Craiova won
1-nil against Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe on home turf. Also on Monday, CFR Cluj won
3-1 in the round’s highlight match against Viitorul Constanta. With three
rounds still remaining, CFR tops the rankings with 44 points, followed by FCSB
with 39 and Universitatea Craiova with 36.