Sports flash

The latest from football, table tennis, lawn tennis and men's volleyball

Florin Orban, 25.05.2023, 13:45

Sepsi
Sfântu Gheorghe has won the Romanian Cup in football this past Wednesday, when
they secured a 5-4 win against Universitatea Cluj, after the penalty shootout. The scoreboard displayed a blank draw after
regular time, but also after extra time. Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe’s hero was a former
footballer of Universitatea Cluj, goal keeper Roland Niczuly, who deflected
three penalty kicks. Scoring for Sepsi were Roland Varga, Alexandru Tudorie,
Ion Gheorghe, Marius Ştefănescu and Mark Tamas, while Jonathan Rodriguez and Adnan
Aganovic wasted their opportunities to score. Scoring for Universitatea Cluj were
Alexandru Chipciu, Ovidiu Bic, Dragoş Tescan and Dan Nistor. Failing to score for
Universitatea Cluj were Ely Fernandes, Jose Gomes and Ivan Martic. Sepsi Sfântu
Gheorghe has won the trophy for the second time running.

In news
from table tennis, the World Individual Championships are ongoing in Durban. In
the round of 32, all four Romanian representatives, on Wednesday, Elizabeta
Samara, Andreea Dragoman, Adina Diaconu and Bernadette Szöcs were eliminated
from competition. The Romanian-Spanish pair made of Ovidiu Ionescu and Alvaro
Robles, silver medalists at the World Championships in Budapest in 2019, was
unable to move past the men’s doubles’ round of 16.

This past Wednesday, Romanian
tennis players Elena Gabriela Ruse and Miriam Bulgaru were defeated in the
second qualifiers round ahead of the women’s singles main draw in the year’s
second Grand Slam event, the Roland Garros tournament. Belgium’s Ruse Greet Minnen defeated Ruse, 6-4,
6-1, while US challenger Kayla Day defeated Miriam Bulgaru, also 6-4, 6-1. Ruse
and Bulgaru received 22,000 Euros each and were granted 20 WTA points. Earning in
their place in the women’s singles’ main draw are four other Romanians, Irina
Begu, Sorana Cîrstea, Ana Bogdan and Patricia Ţig.

In news
from men’s volleyball, head-coach Sergiu Stancu has extended his contract with Arcada
Galaţi, the team with which, since 2019, he has won consecutive five titles.
Arcada Galati did not provide any info on the length of the extended contract.

Sergiu
Stancu is also Romanian men’s national team’s head-coach. This coming Saturday,
in a fixture counting towards the Golden League, the Romanian national team play
its debut match against Portugal, away from home.