Sport Club RRI
In fencing, Ana-Maria Branza was designated the best fencer of 2013, after winning the European individual and team epee titles and ranked 3rd with the Romanian women’s fencing team at the World Championships. Also this year, Branza was picked best athlete by her club Steaua. Ana-Maria Branza wants to keep a high standard throughout next year, when she expects to defend her titles and face even more competition. In rugby, Steaua was designated best team in 2013, when it won the Romanian Cup.
Steliu Lambru, 18.12.2013, 16:28
It’s been an action-packed year for Romanian athletics. Our athletes were involved in several local, regional and global events, such as the University World Games, the Olympic Festival of European Youth or the Francophone Games. Romania grabbed a total of 24 medals, of which 9 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze. The Romanian Athletics Federation has awarded the “athlete of the year” distinction to Romanian triple jumper Marian Oprea, who ranked 6th at this year’s World Championships. Ranking 2nd in the athletics standings was Romania’s 4x400m relay team, made up of Bianca Razor, Mirela Lavric, Sanda Belgyan, Adelina Pastor and Alina Panaite. Ranking third in the standings was Florentina Marincu, who won the long jump and triple jump gold medals at this year’s edition of the World Junior Championships.
Overall, Romanian sports reported a visible downward trend, failing to obtain a gold medal in an Olympic discipline in senior competitions. Romanian athletes won only 3 silver medals, in rowing and fencing, but the event will no longer be included in the 2016 Olympic Games. Also, Romania walked home with 4 bronze medals, in kayak-canoeing, gymnastics, and fencing. The same negative trend was reported in athletics.
Judoka Andreea Chitu, European vice-champion and 5th placed at the World Championships, has been designated athlete of the year by the Prahova County Directorate for Sports and Youth. Chitu, who competes in the 52-kg category, currently competes for CSM Ploiesti and Steaua Bucharest.
The best teams of 2013 are Romanian Football Cup winner Petrolul Ploiesti, a team that also played in the Europa League preliminaries and CSU Asesoft Ploiesti, Romania’s national basketball champions, currently playing the EuroCup groups.
