Sports Roundup

The latest from football, volleyball and swimming

Florin Orban, 19.06.2023, 13:45

Romanian national football team’s record as part of the EURO 2024 qualifiers has been a no-defeat one, so far. We recall that in March, Romania won both fixtures, against Andorra and Belarus, respectively. This past Friday, in their third match as part of the qualifiers’ Group I, Romania’s match against Kosovo in Pristina ended in a blank draw. In its fourth official fixture on Monday, Romania takes on Switzerland in Lucerne.

In news from volleyball, Romania’s women’s national volleyball team sustained a 1-3 away defeat by Slovakia this past Saturday in Nitra. It was our national team’s last fixture in Golden League’s group B. With only one win in four matches, Romania is at the bottom of the table on Group B, being outclassed by the Czech Republic, with three wins, and Slovakia, with two.

In the men’s version of the Golden League, this past Sunday in Brasov, Romania was defeated by Portugal, 2-3. Turkey is at the top of the table, with 5 wins and 14 points. Portugal follows suit, with three wins and nine points all told. Romania has a record of two wins and 7 points, while bottom-of-the-table squad, Denmark, has also two wins but only six points on its record sheet.

This past Sunday in Paris, world-class Romanian swimmer Constantin Popovici came in first in the second stage as part of Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series circuit, with 464.9 points. Stepping onto the second step of the podium was Ukrainian swimmer Oleksy Prigorov, with 405.15 points, while Russia’s Nikita Fedotov was 3rd-placed, with 402.05 points. The 2022 vice-European champion, the other Romanian in the competition, Cătălin Preda, came in 6th, with 396.75 points. After two stages, in the overall rankings, Constantin Popovici is the leader, with 210 points.

The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee has made public the Romanian delegation at the European Games scheduled to kick-start in Krakow this week. 150 athletes will take the start in the competition, of which 74 in the women’s competition and 76 in the men’s competition, in 18 sports disciplines. At the Games’ opening ceremony flag bearers will be world and European champion, rower Cătălin Chirilă, and European hammer throw champion Bianca Ghelber.