Sports Roundup

A roundup of the most important sporting events

Florin Orban, 09.03.2020, 13:45

Romania’s rugby team on Saturday
lost to Russia 32-25 away from home in the 4th round of Rugby Europe
Championship. The Oaks sustained their third defeat this year and are currently
bottom of the tables, in 6th place. Romania will play its final
fixture this season on March 14 against Belgium.

The women’s Champions League group
phase ended this weekend. Romania will have two representatives in the
quarterfinals: CSM Bucharest and SCM Ramnicu Valcea. Both teams ended the group
phase in 4th position in their groups. In the last round on
Saturday, in Group 1, CSM Bucharest defeated Vipers Kristiansand of Norway at
home, 28-22. In the quarterfinals the team from Bucharest will take on Gyor of
Hungary, the team that won Group 2. On Saturday, champions SCM Ramnicu Valcea
lost 29-35 to Gyor. The team from Valcea will go up against Metz of France, the
team that won Group 1. The quarterfinals will be played in April.

In the EHF Cup, Gloria
Bistrita-Nasaud failed to qualify to the semi-finals. On Sunday, in the return
leg of the quarterfinals, Gloria lost 28-26 to Herning-Ikast of Denmark. The
Scandinavians had won the first leg as well in Bistrita, 29-26.

Romanian tennis player Irina Begu
won the 125k tournament in Indian Wells, California. In the final Begu defeated
Misaki Doi of Japan, 6-3, 6-3. Also worth noting is that the 1,000 BNP Paribas
Open 2020 due to kick off this week in Indian Wells has been cancelled as
coronavirus fears continue to spread. Another Romanian tennis player, Laura
Ioana Paar on Sunday won her first WTA title in the women’s doubles. In the
finals of the competition, totaling some 275 thousand dollars in prize money,
Laura and Julia Wachaczyk won 7-5, 6-4 against Lesley Kerkhove and Bibiane
Schoofs of the Netherlands.

In football, a new round of the
group phase was played this weekend. In Group 1, on Friday, Astra Giurgiu won
1-nil against FC Botosani. On Sunday, in Bucharest, FCSB won 4-1 against
Universitatea Craiova. The match was played against an empty stadium due to the
coronavirus. On Monday, Gaz Metan Medias will play CFR Cluj. CFR tops the
league tables with 29 points, followed by FCSB and Craiova, each with 26
points. In Group 2, on Saturday, Viitorul Constanta won 3-2 in Clinceni against
Academica. Poli Iasi won 1-nil against Dinamo Bucharest. On Sunday, in
Ploiesti, Chindia Targoviste drew 1-all against Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe. On
Monday, FC Voluntari will play FC Hermannstadt.

(Translated by V. Palcu)