We continue our review of the world of Romanian sports in 2016.
In Part One we looked at most noteworthy achievements in Romanian sport in the first six months of the year, including European Football Championship and the fencing championship held in June 2016.
July was a good month for Romanian handball and saw the national men's team win the World University Championship held in Malaga, Spain after defeating South Korea in the final, 28-20. The women's team won the silver medal after losing to Spain, 20-14. Also in July, Romania sustained a 1-4 defeat by the Spanish men's team in a Davis Cup match counting towards the World Group playoffs.
In August, all eyes on the Olympic Games in Rio. Romania won five medals in total, of which one has been withdrawn in the meantime. This was the poorest performance by the Romanian Olympic delegation since Helsinki, in 1952, when Romania won a mere 4 medals, of which one was gold.
But let us see who won a medal for Romania in Rio this year. The national women's epee team made up of many times European and world champions Ana Maria Popescu, Simona Pop, Simona Gherman and Loredana Dinu, won the country's first ever Olympic gold medal in the teams event. Romania also won a silver medal in Rio thanks to the pair made up of Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău. The two lost the men's doubles final to Spain's Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 4-6, after coming close to winning the title. Weightlifter Gabriel Sâncrăian won Romania's first bronze medal in Rio, but his result has since been disqualified as Sancraian tested positive for exogenous testosterone, which is on the list of banned substances. In rowing, Romania again features among the sports' greatest teams, winning a bronze medal in women's coxed eight. In freestyle wrestling, Albert Saritov won bronze in the 97-kilogram category. Born in Dagestan, Saritov is of Chechen origin but was granted Romanian citizenship in 2016.
September saw Romania's first match as part of the preliminaries for the 2018 World Football Cup. In Cluj, central Romania, the national team drew against Montenegro, 1-all. Also in September, Romania won a medal in the summer Paralympic games in Rio. 20-year old judoka Alex Bologa walked away with bronze in the 60-kilogram category event for visually impaired athletes. Bologa, who has been without his eyesight since he was 6, took up judo 6 years ago. He is currently studying for two BA degrees.
In October, Romania's national football team got its first win with German manager Cristoph Daum at the helm, trouncing Armenia 5-nil, away from home. In their next game, Romania were held to a goalless draw by Kazakhstan. In table tennis, the Romanian Daniela Dodean-Monteiro and her husband Joao Monteiro of Portugal won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event of the European Championships.
In November, Romania's football side sustained a nil-3 defeat by Poland in the preliminaries of the 2018 World Cup. In front of a home crowd of 45,000, Romania put on a lacklustre performance against Poland, one of Europe's best teams at the moment. As a result Romania have finished their 2016 qualifying campaign in the 4th position in Group E, behind Poland, Montenegro and Denmark.
The highlight of the month in December was the women's handball European Championship in Sweden. Romania finished 5th, their highest ranking in the last three editions of the European Championship. Previously, they had finished 10th in 2012 and 9th in 2014. Romania's only medal in the European Championship comes from 2010, when they won bronze.
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