Sports weekend

Romanian swimmer David Popovici has received a nomination for the best young European athlete in 2021 title, the so-called Piotr Nurowski award. The nomination was made by the Association for the European Olympic Committees. The voting and the awarding ceremony will take place during the Association's seminar, to be hosted by the town of Samorin in Slovakia, between November 25 and 26. Four other athletes have received nominations for the title, apart from Popovici. They are Tokyo Olympics skateboarding bronze medalist Sky Brown of Great Britain, Adriana Cerezo Iglesias of Spain, a taekwondo silver medallist, also in Tokyo, the European all-around event champion and gold medallist in the nations' competition, Russian gymnast Victoria Listunova, as well as Serbian athlete Adriana Vilagoš, a javelin throw gold medallist in the World Youth Championships in Nairobi.

In a test-match on Saturday, Romania's national rugby squad face Tonga. 30 rugby players have been summoned ahead of the match. Most of them play in the domestic championship. The extended pool of regulars does not include members of defending champion team Stiinta Baia Mare, who are on a tournament in South Africa. Also, almost all Romania rugby players signed up by French teams have returned to their clubs in France. Romania is 16th-placed according to the as it stands table at world level, while Tonga is 15th-placed.

In the Champions League in women's handball, CSM Bucharest play a home match against Hungary's Ferencvaros Budapest on Saturday. In the first leg played last week the Hungarians grabbed a 31-30 win, when a last-second goal sealed the fate of a match. CSM are 6th-placed in Group A. Group A' s only team with a clean sheet, Ferencvaros are at the top of the table.

Matches counting towards domestic League One championship's 16th round are scheduled at the weekend. It is the first round of the regular season's return-leg series. On Friday, Academica Clinceni go against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, while Chindia Târgoviște face Rapid București. On Saturday, in Ovidiu, in the south-east, Farul Constanța are pitted against UTA Arad, while FC U Craiova play a home game against CFR Cluj. On Sunday, FC Argeș play a home game in Pitești, against Universitatea Craiova. Also on Sunday, on the National Arena in Bucharest, FCSB receive the visit of FC Botosani. In 16th round's last two games on Monday, CS Mioveni play Gaz Metan Medias, while FC Voluntari take on Dinamo Bucharest. CFR Cluj are at the top of the table, with 39 points, followed by FCSB, with 31.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)