Sports Weekend
A roundup of the latest and the upcoming sporting events
Florin Orban, 27.06.2025, 13:45
The Romanian swimmer, David Popovici, on Thursday obtained the best result of the year in the 200 meter freestyle race, where he is a holder of the Olympic title. At the European Under-23 Championships in Samorin, Slovakia, the Romanian won the finals in one minute, 43 seconds and 64 hundredths ending the race nearly three seconds ahead of the Bulgarian runner-up, Petăr Miţin. Popovici’s time at the competition in Slovakia, which is his first since the Olympics last year, was one second and 8 hundredths better than that which brought him the Olympic gold. Also on Thursday in Samorín, Denis Popescu walked away with gold in the 100 meter butterfly race.
A football selection of the Netherlands won the European Under-19 Championships hosted this year by Romania. In the finals in Bucharest on Thursday, the Dutch secured a 1-0 win against trophy holder Spain after an own goal by keeper Raul Jimenez, in the 63rd minute. The eleven coached by Peter van der Veen has won all the five matches played at the aforementioned competition including the one against Romania in the semis, 3-1.
Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, on Saturday will be seeing the finals of the European Football Championship for under-21 players with trophy holder England pitched against Germany. The English clinched a 2-1 win against the Netherlands, while Germany defeated France 3-0.
The final tournament was also attended by Romania which lost all the three games they played. In the first match, when they conceded a 1-0 defeat to Italy, our footballers wasted a lot of chances, including a penalty shot.
In the second match, in which Spain defeated the Romanians, 2-1, the selection coached by Daniel Pancu managed to keep the one-nil upper hand for 80 minutes. But the minor stake in their last game against the host country took its toll on an unmotivated Romanian side, which eventually lost 1-2.
Romania’s club sides are continuing their summer training this weekend as well. Defending champions FCSB is in the Netherlands where they will be playing Almere City on Saturday, a football side, which ended the latest edition of the Dutch championship on the last position. Also on Saturday, CFR Cluj, holder of Romania’s Cup, will be playing a friendly against the Czech side České Budějovice, in Austria.
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