Sports flash

The latest from basketball and football

Florin Orban, 23.12.2021, 13:45

U-BT Cluj-Napoca Romanian basketball team has advanced
to the second round of Champions League’s group stage. This past Wednesday, U-BT Cluj-Napoca grabbed a nail-biting 103-101 away win against Turkish
challengers Daruşşafaka Istanbul. The win booked the Romanians the top position
in Group G. With an 88-70 lead, on 32 minutes the host team was 18 points clear
of their Romanian opponents. However, U-BT Cluj-Napoca managed a stunning
comeback for the final part of the game. Two minutes from time Darussafaka had
the lead, 101-94, but U-BT Cluj-Napoca scored nine points in a row, and won.
First-timers in the Champions League, U-BT Cluj-Napoca had a group-stage record
of five wins and one defeat. In Group G’s other fixture, Israeli team Hapoel
Holon outperformed Italian opponents Happy Casa Brindisi, 84-80. If they want to make headway into the competition, Hapoel and Darușșafaka
will have to compete in the playoffs.

In news from rowing, Ancuta Bodnar has been
designated the Best Athlete of the Year 2021 by her club Dinamo Bucharest. We recall
that jointly with Simona Radis, Ancuta Bodnar won gold in the women’s double
sculls race in the Tokyo Olympics. Simona Radis had previously been designated
the best Athlete in 2021 by her club, Steaua Bucharest.

The Romanian Volleyball federation this past Wednesday
held a ceremony to mark 90 years since the Romanian Volleyball Federation has
been set up. As part of the ceremony, awards went to the Romanian men’s line-up
who in the 1980 won domestic volleyball’s only medal, bronze, at the Olympic
Games in Moscow. Six former volleyball players attended the ceremony, of the
line-up who won the medals 41 years ago. They are Constantin Stere, Nicu Stoian,
Dan Gîrleanu, Marius Căta-Chiţiga, Gunther Enescu and Sorin Macavei.

In news from domestic football, Flavius Stoican is the
new Dinamo head-coach. We recall Stoican is a former Dinamo footballer of the early
2000’s. Stoican had two previous stints as a Dinamo head-coach seven years ago.
Flavious Stoican is in for Mircea Rednic, who took over on October 1st.
Rednic’s record as a Dynamo head-coach was dismally unconvincing. With Mircea Rednic
at the helm, Dinamo managed only one winning fixture, two draws and was
defeated in seven games. One of the iconic footballers of Dinamo in the 1980s
and the 1990s, Mircea Rednic’s most remarkable feat is the winning of the
domestic title 14 years ago, in 2007. At present Dinamo is 15th-placed
according to the domestic rankings, the last-but-one position in the as-it-stands
table.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)