Sports flash

The Romanian national football squad secured a 2-nil win against Kosovo, in a match hosted by the National Arena in Bucharest. The fixture counted towards the Euro 2024 preliminaries' Group I. Scoring for Romania were Nicolae Stanciu, in minute 83, and Valentin Mihăilă, three minutes into added time. In minute 58, Romania's Nicolae Stanciu had failed to score from the spot, not to mention the fact that Kosovo were one man shy on the pitch. The referee interrupted the game on 18 minutes because a group of Romanian fans in the Southern stand unfolded a banner writing Kosovo is Serbia. The match was resumed after 50 minutes. The Romanian Football Federation condemned the reckless behavior of the Southern stand fans. The Bucharest Gendarmerie identified 458 individual who were part of the group of supporters who perpetrated antisocial deeds. In Group I's two other matches, Switzerland defeated Andorra, 3-nil, while Israel defeated Belarus, 1-nil. Switzerland are at the top of the table, with 14 points, followed by Romania, with 12 points, and Israel, with 11 points. In descending order, the other teams are Belarus, Kosovo and Andorra, with 4, another 4 and 2 points, respectively.

The Romanian Basketball Federation has launched the new identity of the national seniors' leagues, men's and women's version of the league, As the result of a commercial partnership with Getica 95, with 500,000 Euros worth of funding, the two competitions will bear the name of the new sponsor, Getica 95 National Women's Basketball League and Getica 95 National Men's Basketball league. The National Women's Basketball League and the National Men's Basketball League as an absolute first have the same sponsor, which proves that gender equality works, stated the president of the Romania Basketball Federation Carmen Tocala.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has received a 4-year ban from competition following doping allegations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Tuesday. The Agency announced suspension was ruled in Halep 's case on two counts, since she tested positive for Roxadustat at the US Open, in 2022, and irregularities were identified in Halep's Athlete Biological Passport. Simona Halep announced she would appeal against the decision.