Sports Flash
A roundup of sports news

Florin Orban, 13.03.2025, 13:45
Romanian athlete Luca Joldea won the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol individual event at the European Shooting Championships held in Croatia, in Osijek. We recall that on Monday, Laura Georgeta Ilie won gold in the women’s individual event, as well as bronze in the women’s team event, in the 10m air rifle.
Volleyball club Alba Blaj has qualified to CEV Cup final in women’s volleyball, after defeating the Hungarian side Vasas Budapest 3-0 at home in the second leg of the semi-finals. The Romanian vice-champions had also won the first leg 3-2, and will play the CEV final for the third time. The team from Blaj has played four European finals so far, losing all of them: the Champions League final seven years ago, then the CEV Cup in 2019 and 2023, and finally the Challenge Cup in 2021.
The men’s basketball team U-BT Cluj-Napoca was knocked out from the EuroCup. The Romanian champions on Wednesday lost away from home to the Spanish club Valencia Basket, score 98-74, in the quarterfinals. The Spanish team prevailed after controlling the game from minute one. The best players for Cluj were Americans Zach Hankins, with 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Zavier Simpson, with 12 points and 10 assists. U-BT Cluj-Napoca played the EuroCup quarterfinals for the second year in a row, after qualifying directly from the group in 2024.
On Wednesday, the interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, awarded former football legend Gheorghe Hagi the highest distinction of the Romanian state – the “Star of Romania” National Order in rank of Knight. A member of the so-called “Golden Generation” of Romanian football, Hagi totaled 124 caps for the Romanian team, and was team captain 65 times. Gheorghe Hagi represented Romania in three editions of the World Cup, namely in 1990 in Italy, then in 1994 in the United States, and in 1998 in France. At the same time, Hagi took part in three European Championships, namely in 1984 in France as a reserve, and in the first lineup in 1996 in England, and in 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands. He is considered the best Romanian player of all time. Among the teams he played for were Steaua Bucharest, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Gloria Sports Club 2018 Bistriţa-Năsăud will change its name to CS Gloria Bistriţa. The change comes as a result of an association agreement that will be signed between the Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council, which controls the interest in the club, and the Bistriţa City Hall, the county seat. This year, the club’s women’s handball team played in the women’s Champions League, where it reached the group phase. (VP)