Sports flash

The latest from men's basketball, rhythmic gymnastics women's tennis and women's volleyball

Florin Orban, 18.05.2023, 13:45

We begin with news from domestic
basketball. In the final of the men’s championships, on aggregate, CSM CSU Oradea
has a 2-nil lead over the 2022 title holders, U-BT Cluj-Napoca. On Sunday, CSM CSU Oradea
secured a 79-73 first-leg win, then on Tuesday, CSM CSU Oradea secured yet another
win, 93-83. The final is played according to the best-in-seven-matches system.
The next two fixtures are scheduled in Cluj-Napoca, on Saturday and on Monday.

In rhythmic gymnastics, the Azeri capital
Baku plays host to the European championships for juniors and seniors. On
Wednesday, in the juniors’ team competition, the Romania delegation is 11th
placed, overall. In the seniors’ version of the contest, representing Romania are
Annaliese Drăgan and Andreea Verdeş in the individual events, and the group
made of Alenia Biringer, Catrina Buniov, Anisia Drăgan, Dalia Marin, Claudia
Mitan and Antonia Stănescu.

The Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan on Wednesday sustained a nil-6, 4-6 defeat by US challenger Taylor
Townsend. The confrontation counted towards the round of 16 as part of the WTA
125 tournament in Florence, a competition with 115,000 USD in prize money. Third-seeded
Ana Bogdan was defeated after one hour and 14 minutes
of play. It was more than a year
since Ana Bogdan had sustained a defeat with no set won in the confrontation. For
having advanced to the Florence tournament’s round of 16, Ana Bogdan will
receive a cheque worth 2,000 USD and will be granted 15 WTA points.

The head-coach of Romania’s
national women’s volleyball team, the Spaniard Guillermo
Naranjo Hernandez, has called 18 volleyball players for the participation in
the Golden League competition. Among them, two are signed up by foreign teams: Elizabet
Varga plays for South Korea’s Daejeon, while Adelina Budăi-Ungureanu plays for
Pinerolo in Italy. For their debut game in the competition, the pool of
regulars convenes in Pitesti, when on May 27 the national squad takes on the team
of Slovakia. Then on June 3rd, the national team travels to Ostrava, for a fixture
against the Czech national squad. The return match is scheduled on June 8th,
in Pitesti. The Golden League’s last
match is scheduled on June 17th, when Romania takes on Slovakia, in
Nitra. The first two teams in descending order advance to the competition’s semi-finals.