Sports Flash

The Romanian men's handball club Dinamo Bucharest on Wednesday lost 33-30 to Veszprem Telekom of Hungary away from home in Champions League Group A. The Romanian team had a better first half, at times securing a four-goal lead. The score was 17-15 at half time. In the second half, Veszprem made a spectacular comeback, taking the lead and putting five goals between them and Dinamo. At the end of the game, Veszprem won with a three-goal lead. The top scorers for Dinamo were Stanislav Kasparek of the Czech Republic and Andry Akimenko of Ukraine with seven goals each. Dinamo is ranked 7th in the group tables with one point and will next play FC Porto at home on October 5.

Following the draw for the World Table Tennis Championships to be hosted by Chengdu, China, Romania was drawn in Group 6 alongside Taiwan, Sweden and Portugal. The championships start on Friday. Romania's women's team includes Elizabeta Samara, Bernadette Szőcs, Adina Diaconu, Andreea Dragoman and Irina Ciobanu. The team is coached by Viorel Filimon and Mihaela Şteff. The men's team was drawn in Group 3 alongside Japan, Hong Kong, Iran and Hungary. The men's team includes Ovidiu Ionescu, Hunor Szőcs and Eduard Ionescu and is coached by Andrei Filimon and Ionuț Seni.

Romania's national rugby team will play three friendly matches in November, all scheduled to take place on the Triumphal Arch stadium in Bucharest, the National Rugby Federation has announced. On November 5, Romania will play Chile, then on November 12 it will go up against Uruguay, while the last friendly match is slated for November 19 against Samoa. Of all the Oaks adversaries, Samoa is the best-ranked team in world standings, namely 11th. Uruguay is ranked 18th while Chile 21st. Romania is ranked 17th. (VP)