Sports flash
The latest from cycling, rowing and tennis
Eugen Nasta, 23.05.2024, 20:13
Cyclists Ede Molnar and Patrick Pescaru are the two Romanian athletes shortlisted for Vlad Dascalu’s replacement in the Olympic cross-country event as part of the Olympic Games in Paris, should the ban on the former European champion will not be lifted.
Romania by default has a place in the Paris 2024’s mountain bike event. The place should have been granted to Vlad Dascalu, the 2023 European champion and 5th-placed according to the 2023 World Championship rankings. However, the International Cycling Union this past Tuesday announced Vlad Dascalu would face a 17-month suspension for breaching the antidoping rules in three misconduct cases, when he was supposed to declare his location within a twelve-month timeframe.
Ede Molnar is a mountain bike cross-country eliminator European champion. Patrick Pescaru is a national and Balkan cyclocross champion.
Yet another Romanian rower has secured his qualifications for this coming summer’s Olympic games in Paris. Mihai Chiruţă won the men’s single sculls this past Tuesday, coming in first as part of the Lucerne pre-Olympic regatta’s A Final. So no less than 12 Romanian boats have secured their qualification to the Paris Olympics. All told, 86 Romanian athletes will prove their mettle in Paris. Weightlifters Mihaela Cambei and Loredana Toma have met all qualification standards, but that has yet to be officialized.
Romanian tennis players Gabriela Ruse and Cristina Dinu this past Wednesday have succeeded to advance to the qualifiers’ final round ahead of the women’s singles’ main draw as part of Roland Garros tournament, the year’s second Grand Slam tournament. 31-year-old Cristina Dinu, 229 WTA, took advantage of Japanese opponent Mai Hintama’s pulling out of competition after only 37 minutes of play. In the last preliminary round, Cristina Dinu, goes against the winner of the match pitting Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa against Brazil’s Laura Pigossi.
26-year-old and world 152nd-placed Gabriela Ruse defeated Dutch challenger Suzan Lamens, 6-3, 6-4. In the final qualifiers round, Ruse goes against 37-year-old and WTA 95th-placed Sara Errani, the qualifiers’ top-seeded tennis player.
