Sports roundup

Last weekend saw the European competitions in women's handball. In the Champions League's group A, on Saturday in Budapest, local side Ferencvaros secured a 31-27 win against CSM Bucharest. The Romanians had a two-goal advantage at the break as it was 16-14 to CSM, a team that ranks second in the group with 11 points out of 9 games.

Russian side Rostov-Don comes first in the ranking with 13 points out of 8 games. In group B on Sunday SCM Ramnicu Valcea came a cropper against the Hungarians from Gyor in a home match that ended 37-20 to the visitors. The Romanian champions are on the last position in their group with no points.  

Two sides representing Romania in the European League made their debut with wins. In the competition's group C, on Saturday, Minaur Baia Mare clinched a 33-29 home win at home against the Norwegians from Storhamar, while in group D, on Sunday, Dunarea Braila obtained a 29-27 home win against the French from Fleury Loiret.

Qualification matches for the Australian Open have already kicked off in Doha, Qatar for men's competitions and in Dubai for women's competitions.

Two Romanians, Irina Bara and Gabriela Talaba have been eliminated by Yuki Naito of Japan and Chloe Paquet of France, respectively. However, Romania will have five players on the women's main draw: Simona Halep, Patricia Tig, Sorana Cirstea, Irina Begu and Ana Bogdan. The tournament in Melbourne is due over February 8th and 21st.  

Domestic football championship has resumed in Romania. On Sunday, in Ovidiu, southern Romania, local side Viitorul Constanta secured a 2-1 win against Hermannstadt in a remaining game from the previous legs.

This week will see the matches of the competition's 16th leg. Two matches are due on Tuesday when Gaz Metan Medias will be taking on FC Voluntari and Universitatea Craiova will be up against Sepsi Sf. Gheorghe. FCSB tops the table with 34 points followed by Universitatea Craiova with 32 and CFR with 31.

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