Sports Roundup
News from table tennis, women's handball, tennis and football
Ștefan Baciu, 09.12.2024, 13:45
Romania came out 4th at the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu (China), after losing 2-8 the match for the 3rd place against Hong Kong on Sunday. In the competition’s semis, Romania was defeated by China (8-1). Romania qualified for the semi-finals of the Mixed Team Table Tennis World Cup after defeating Germany 8-5 and after an 8-2 victory in the match against Japan, a world table tennis powerhouse, but which did not line up its top team in Chengdu. It is the best performance for the Romanian team at a Mixed Team World Cup, a competition won this year by the host team, China, which defeated South Korea in the final (8-1). The Romanian team was trained by Andrei Filimon and Ionuț Seni, and consisted of Bernadette Szocs (no 14 in the world), Elizabeta Samara (world no 51), Adina Diaconu (91), Andreea Dragoman (112), Ovidiu Ionescu (world no 46), Eduard Ionescu (75), Andrei Istrate (169) and Darius Movileanu (197).
Romania was defeated by Hungary (37-29), on Sunday evening, in Debrecen, in a match in the main Group I of the European Women’s Handball Championship, hosted by Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. With a young team, undergoing reconstruction, Romania defeated the valuable team of Sweden 25-23 in another main Group I match, after previously losing to France, 25 – 30. Romania has 2 points and is in 5th place in the group, with the same number of points as 4th-placed Sweden. Top of the group are Hungary and France, each with 8 points, and Montenegro – 4 points. In the last match in the group, scheduled for Tuesday, December 10, Romania will take on Poland, which is in last place in the group, with zero points.
The Romanians Monica Niculescu and Gabriela Ruse Sunday won the doubles event of the WTA 125 tennis tournament in Angers (France), with EUR 100,000 in total prize money. In the final they defeated Belinda Bencic / Celine Naef (Switzerland) 6-3, 6-4. This is the second WTA 125 doubles title won by Niculescu and Ruse, after the one in Hong Kong, in October.
We end with results of the matches in the 19th round of Romania’s football Super League. On Friday, Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe beat Rapid Bucharest 2-0. On Saturday, Dinamo București won 1-0 away from home against Gloria Buzău, and Petrolul Ploiești and Universitatea Craiova drew 1-1. The round continued on Sunday with the matches UTA Arad vs Unirea Slobozia 3-4, Politehnica Iaşi vs Farul Constanţa 2-2 and FCSB vs FC Botoşani 2-1. Before the last two matches in the round, Hermannstadt vs Oţelul Galaţi and Universitatea Cluj vs CFR Cluj, scheduled for Monday, the top places in the standings were FCSB – 33 points, Dinamo Bucharest – 32 points, CFR Cluj 31 points and Universitatea Cluj – 30 points. (AMP)
