2020 in Sports (II)

2020 in sports (ii) The sporting highlights of 2020

Today we continue our roundup of the sporting highlights of 2020, a year impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. After numerous competitions were postponed or cancelled in March, in the second half of the year athletes resumed their sports activities, most competitions being held without the physical attendance of sports fans.



In July, Romanian fencer Ana-Maria Popescu won the 2020 edition of the World Epee Cup. The title was awarded by the International Fencing Federation as several competitions could not be held due to the COVID pandemic. The international body ruled that the winners of the 2020 annual competitions should be designated depending on the position they held in March, when sports competitions were suspended. Ana-Maria Popescu was followed in the women's standings by Nathalie Moellhausen of Brazil and Sun Yiwen of China. Let us further note the Romanian won the World Epee Cup also in 2008, 2009 and 2013. After winning the 2020 edition, Ana-Maria Popescu became the fencer with the most wins in the World Cup, outranking Laura Flessel of France and Emese Szász-Kovács of Hungary, both with three wins overall. Also in July, the International Olympic Committee introduced new qualifying criteria in all sports events included in the Tokyo Olympic Games, postponed for 2021. Major adjustments were made in athletics, cycling, weightlifting, basketball and judo. The age eligibility for the Olympic football tournament changed from 23 to 24. Qualification to the Olympic Games will complete by June 29, 2021. All athletes need to enroll by July 5. The Olympic Games will officially start on July 23.



Also in July, FCSB won the Romanian Football Cup, defeating Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe 1-nil in the final. CFR Cluj won the 2019-2020 domestic championship in early August. In the last round of the Group 1, CFR won 3-1 against runner-up Universitatea Craiova. CFR then had the longest run in European inter-club competitions, reaching the Europa League group phase. Also in August, Simona Halep, world no. 2, won the WTA tournament in Prague, totaling $202,250 in prizes, after defeating Elise Mertens of Belgium, 6-2, 7-5. This was the 21st title in Halep's career and her second in 2020, after the tournament won in Dubai in February, before the COVID-19 outbreak started. Also in August, the city of Cluj hosted the 65th edition of the International Athletics Championships. The list of top performers included Florentina Iuşco, an athlete already qualified to the long jump event in the Olympic Games. Iuşco won the triple jump event, with a jump measuring 13.66 meters, then won the long jump event as well, with a jump measuring 6.43 meters.



In September, Patricia Ţig won the WTA tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, totaling $225 thousand in prizes, after defeating Eugénie Bouchard of Canada, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the final. Ţig climbed to the 58th position in WTA standings, becoming the second Romanian listed in the WTA standings apart from Simona Halep, world no. 2 A week later, Halep won the third tournament in 2020, winning the €1.7 million tournament in Rome, defeating Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the final.

In October, at the European Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, Romania ranked third in the medal standings. Our athletes won six medals, four gold, one silver and one bronze. The women's double-skull crew, the men's double skull crew, the women's pair and the women's 8+1 crew won the gold medals. The men's 8+1 crew won silver, while the women's lightweight pair won bronze.



The European Judo Championships were held in November in Prague. Romania's hopes at a medal were pinned on Andreea Chiţu, a former European champion and world vice-champion, and our athlete didn't disappoint. She won silver in the 52-kg category, which was the only medal won the Romanian delegation.

The month of December featured three European championships involving Romania's participation. At the European women's Handball championship hosted by Denmark, Romania ranked 12, its worst standing in the history of this competition. At the men's European Gymnastics Championships in Turkey, our veteran Marian Drăgulescu ranked 4th in the vault event. But the end of the year came with a remarkable performance. At the women's gymnastics championships, also hosted by Turkey, Larisa Iordache won two gold medals, in the beam and floor events, and silver in the vault event. Romania ranked second in the team event.

And that concludes our roundup of the sporting highlights of 2020, the toughest year for sports since World War II. (V. Palcu)



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Publicat: 2020-12-29 13:45:00
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