Sports Roundup

News from the Dakar Rally, tennis, women's handball, and football

Florin Orban, 20.01.2025, 13:45

The Australian driver Daniel Sanders won this year’s Dakar Rally in the motorcycle section. The Romanian Emanuel Gyenes came in 20th, but he won the Original by Motul category, where participants compete without technical assistance. This is the second time the Satu Mare born athlete has won this category, after 2020. In 2011 and 2015, he won the Marathon class. His best overall ranking in 15 annual competitions remains the 14th place won in 2016.

At the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, Gabriela Ruse and Marta Kostiuk qualified for the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event. In the round of 16, the Romanian-Ukrainian pair defeated the 12th-seeded Hanyu Guo of China and Alexandra Panova of Russia 7-5, 4-6, 7-6. The match lasted 3 hours and 14 minutes. Ruse and Kostiuk have played 2 Grand Slam women’s doubles semifinals together, one in Melbourne in 2023 and another at Roland Garros in 2024. Now, they have secured a check for 142,000 Australian dollars and 430 WTA doubles points. In the quarterfinals, they will face the third-seeded Su-Wei Hsieh (Taiwan) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia).

In the women’s handball Champions League’s Group A, CSM Bucharest defeated the Slovenian team Krim Ljubljana 36-23 at home on Saturday, while Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud were defeated in Croatia by Podravka Koprivnica 26-25. CSM are in 3rd place in the standings and will play the against Danish team Nykøbing Falster on Sunday. Gloria are in 6th place and will take on the Hungarian team Ferencváros at home on Saturday. In Group B, Rapid suffered another defeat: 25-42 at home against the Danish side Odense, and remains in 7th place in the group. The Romanian vice-champions will also play the next match at home, against another Danish team, Team Esbjerg, on Sunday. The Norwegian team Vipers Kristiansand withdrew from the competition.

In the EHF European League’s Group A, on Saturday, Dunărea Brăila defeated the Norwegian team Larvik 27-24 away from home and will play on Sunday against Thüringer (Germany). In Group B, SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea beat the Danish team Ikast, at home, 27-26. On Saturday they are facing the Norwegian team Sola at home. Both Romanian teams lead the standings in their respective groups.

We end with football. Over the weekend, games counting for the 22nd round of the Romanian Super League took place. On Friday, in Clinceni, Unirea Slobozia defeated Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe 3-2, and in Bucharest, FCSB tied 1-1 with Hermannstadt. On Saturday, in Cluj, Universitatea beat Gloria Buzău 2-1, and in Galaţi, Oţelul drew 0-0 with Petrolul Ploieşti. On Sunday, FC Botoşani played at home against CFR Cluj, and Universitatea Craiova took on Dinamo Bucharest on home turf. Both matches ended in 1-all draws. Monday sees the last two games in this round: Farul Constanţa vs UTA Arad and Rapid Bucharest vs Poli Iaşi. Universitatea Cluj top the standings, with 40 points, followed by FCSB with 38. (AMP)