Sports Roundup

A look at the main sporting events this past week

Florin Orban, 25.11.2024, 13:45

The Romanian table tennis player Bernadette Szőcs won the bronze medal at the Champions’ Cup in Kitakyushu, Japan. She reached the semifinals of the tournament, but was stopped on the way to the final by China’s Manyu Wang, the second seed and world number two. It was the Romanian’s second participation in the Champions Cup, after, last year, she stopped in the round of 16. This year, Europe was represented in the women’s competition only by Bernadette, number 17 in the world, and by the Austrian of Moldovan origin Sofia Polcanova, 14th in the world rankings. The Champions’ Cup, the competition that ends the season, brings together every year the best 16 singles players, for women and men, together with the best eight teams. Bernadette Szőcs entered the contest following the withdrawal of the Chinese Meng Cheng, the Olympic champion.

Romania’s rugby team ended its training games this autumn with a defeat. In Bucharest, on Saturday, the Uruguayan national team beat Stejari 23 to 21. The victory of the South Americans came a minute before the final whistle, after the conversion of a penalty kick. During the game, both teams managed two touchdowns each. In the previous matches, Romania came in victorio9us: 25 to 15 against Tonga, on November 9, and 35 to 27 against Canada, on the 16th.

At the friendly Golden League women’s handball tournament, which took place in Denmark, Romania lost all three games it played. On Thursday, the tricolors were defeated by Holland 41 to 26. On Saturday, they lost 25 to 35 against Denmark. Sunday’s game against Norway followed, in which the Scandinavians dominated the game, winning 37 to 25. Next is the European Championship, which will take place between November 28 and December 15 in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. The Romanian team will play in Group B, in Debrecen, alongside the Czech Republic, which it will meet on Friday, Montenegro, which it will take on Sunday, and Serbia, which it will face on Tuesday, December 3.

Over the weekend, there were games counting for the 17th round of the Romanian Football Superleague. On Friday, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe beat Gloria Buzău at home, 2-0, and Oţelul Galaţi defeated Farul Constanta 1-0 in Ovidiu. On Saturday, Hermannstadt beat Universitea Cluj 2-1 in Sibiu, then the game in Cluj between CFR and Rapid Bucharest ended in a draw, 1 to 1. On Sunday, FCSB defeated Unirea Slobozia 3-0 at the National Arena in Bucharest, and Dinamo Bucharest won in Ploiesti the match against Petrolul 1-0. Monday sees the last two games of the round: AFC Botoşani with Poli Iasi and UTA Arad with Universitatea Craiova. Universitatea Craiova leads the ranking, with 30 points, followed by CFR and Dinamo. (MI)