Sports Year 2017 (I)
2017 spelled good results for Romanian athletes in numerous sporting events. Romanias rowers had the most spectacular comeback, especially in the World Championships. Here is a closer look at the first half of 2017
Florin Orban, 28.12.2017, 13:13
January kicked off with the Australian Open. Sorana Cirstea had a good run in the competition, reaching the quarterfinals, where she was ousted by Garbine Muguruza of Spain, the competition’s seven-seed. Another two Romanians, Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea, got knocked out in the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event.
The highlight of February was Cristian Ciocan’s win in a WBO heavyweight challenge match. In a gala hosted by London, Cristian Ciocan managed to defend his belt by defeating the local favourite David Price of Great Britain by technical KO. In tennis, Romania’s Davis Cup team lost 2-3 to Belarus away from home. The match counted towards the first round of Group 1 in the Europe-Africa zone. Our athletes didn’t fare any better in the women’s competition. Our Fed Cup team lost 3-1 to Belgium in Bucharest in a match counting towards the first round of the Second World Group.
The month of March started with a good result in tennis. Horia Tecau and his team mate, Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, won the doubles event in the Dubai tournament. The two defeated Rohan Bopanna of India and Marcin Matkowski of Poland, 4-6, 6-3, 10-3. Also in March, Romania won the 2017 edition of Rugby Europe Championship. In the final match, the “Oaks” defeated Georgia at home, 8-7. Romania and Georgia ranked first and second, respectively, with 19 points each, although Romania had the advantage over Georgia in direct encounters.
April saw the European Weightlifting Championships, hosted by Split, Croatia. Romania’s delegation grabbed 17 medals, of which six gold, four silver and seven bronze. Loredana Toma dominated the women’s 63-kg category, sweeping the board with gold medals in the snatch, clean and jerk and total events. Also in April the city of Cluj, in western Romania, played host to the European Gymnastics Championships. Aged 36, Marian Dragulescu won gold in the floor event and scooped silver in the vault finals. In the women’s competition, three-time Olympic medalist Catalina Ponor won gold in the beam event, while another Romanian athlete, Larisa Iordache, reaped bronze. Also this month Romania’s Fed Cup team successfully defended its place in the Second World Group in tennis. In the playoff match hosted by the city of Constanta on the Romanian Black Seacoast, Romania defeated Great Britain. In late April, Florin Mergea and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan won the doubles event in the tournament hosted by Barcelona. In the final match the two outplayed Phillipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya of Austria, 6-4, 6-3.
In May, the Romanian women’s handball champions CSM Bucharest won bronze in Champions League, at the Final Four tournament hosted by Budapest. In the bronze final CSM defeated Montenegro’s champions, Buducnost Podgorica, 26-20. In the semi-finals CSM had lost 33-38 to Vardar Skopje of Macedonia. The trophy went to the Hungarian champions Gyor. At the European Wrestling Championships hosted by Novi Sad, Serbia, Romania grabbed two medals. Andrei Dukov won silver in the 57-kg event while Alina Vuc scooped bronze in the 48-kg category. Also in May, football club Viitorul Constanta won the First League title. Coached and funded by former football legend, Gheorghe Hagi, Viitorul finished Group 1 in top position, with the same number of points as FCSB, the former Steaua Bucharest. Viitorul however had a better ranking due to winning both encounters with FCSB in Group 1 of regular season. In tennis, Simona Halep won the WTA tournament in Madrid for the second consecutive year. In the final Halep outperformed the French player Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 6-7, 6-2. In boxing, Cristian Ciocan successfully defended his WBO heavyweight belt for the second time this year, after winning against boxer Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf of Algeria on points in a boxing gala hosted by Hamburg, Germany. At the end of the 10 rounds the referees’ decision was unanimous, in favour of Christian Hammer, the stage name of Cristian Ciocan. In late May the Czech city of Racice hosted the European Rowing Championships. Romania’s rowers grabbed four medals, three gold in the women’s competition and one silver medal in the men’s competition. Cristina Popescu, Alina Elena Pop, Beatrice Parfenie and Georgiana Parascanu grabbed gold in the four-scull event. Madalina Beres and Laura Oprea won the women’s double-scull race. Then the Romanian eight crew grabbed a clear win. The men’s four-scull crew, made up of Cristian Ivascu, Vlad Dragos Aicoboae, Marius Vasile Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa won silver.
In June, Simona Halep came again very close to winning her first Grand Slam. Halep lost the Roland Garros finals to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, ranked 47th in WTA standings at the time. In Tbilisi, Georgia, the Romanian women’s epee team won bronze at the European Fencing Championships. Romania, which displayed a younger lineup than usual, came in third after defeating Estonia 45-38 in the bronze final.
