Sports flash

The latest from football, tennis and swimming

Radio România Internațional, 25.07.2024, 13:45

Farul Constanta football team head-coach, Gheorghe Hagi, is the top option for the position of national football team manager. The president of the Romanian Football Federation’s Technical Commission, Mihai Stoichiţă, on Wednesday made public the fact that in the coming period negotiations will start with Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi.

Gheorghe Hagi has been national football team manager before, in 2001. He then was at the helm of such top-flight teams as Galatasaray Istanbul and Steaua Bucharest.

The selection of Hagi for a new contract with the national squad has occurred right after the former manager, Edward Iordănescu, opted for terminating his contract with the National Football Federation. At the EURO 2024 with Edward Iordănescu at the helm, Romania won Group E, outperforming Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine and advancing to the round of 16, where it was defeated by the Netherlands.

In the first fixture as part of the final tournament, the Romanian national squad stunned everybody thanks to their 3-nil win against Ukraine, the most resounding victory in the Romanian national squad’s participation in world and European final tournaments.

The WTA 250 women’s tennis tournament is ongoing in Iasi, and event with 232,000USD in prize money. The tournament will draw to a close on Friday, given the kick-start of the Olympic Games. In Paris, representing Romania in the women’s version of the tennis competitions are Ana Bogdan, Jaqueline Cristian, Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu. Bogdan, Cristian and Begu will play both in the women’s singles and women’s doubles version, while Niculescu will only play in the women’s doubles.

The Olympic Games’official opening is scheduled this coming Sunday, yet the Olympic competitions have already started on Wednesday, with fixtures in the men’s football and rugby sevens competitions.
For the Romanian delegation, early next week the hopefuls for stepping onto a step podium are most likely the swimmers.

Many-time European champion and title holder David Popovici this coming Sunday at noon will compete in the 200m freestyle heats with the semifinals being scheduled in the evening. The final will be held on Monday, For the 100m freestyle, an event where Popovici was world record holder, the heats and the semifinals are scheduled on Tuesday, while the finals will be held on Wednesday.