Sports Update
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Florin Orban, 22.08.2024, 13:45
In the US Open qualifiers, Elena Gabriela Ruse has entered the third round. In the second round, on Wednesday, she defeated the Chinese Ye-Xin Ma 6-3, 6-3, after an hour and ten minutes of play. The other Romanian player who reached the second round of the qualifications, Irina Bara, was defeated by the Australian Arina Rodionova 6-4, 6-4. The game was balanced and lasted one hour and 27 minutes. At the US Open, Jaqueline Cristian and Ana Bogdan go directly to the main draw. The latter is still in Cleveland, in the state of Ohio, where a WTA 250 tournament with prizes worth 267 thousand dollars is under way, and where the Romanian qualified for the quarterfinals. On Wednesday, in the round of 16, Ana defeated Greet Minnen, from Belgium, 7-6, 6-3.
Now news from rowing. At the end of this week, the Romanian canoeists Cătălin Chirilă, Ilie Sprîncean and Oleg Nuţă will perform in the 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships for non-olympic events, hosted by Uzbekistan, in Samarkand. Chirilă will participate in the 200 and 500 meters singles, whose finals will take place on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Sprîncean and Nuță will compete in the 1000-meter doubles event, with the final taking place on Saturday. The three also represented Romania at the Olympic Games in Paris. Cătălin Chirilă ranked 9th in the men’s canoe single on the distance of 1000 meters, and the Sprîncean / Nuţă pair also ranked 9th in the canoe double on the distance of 500 meters.
Marius Şumudică is the new coach of the Rapid Bucharest football team. The team terminated the contract of Neil Lennon of Northern Ireland, after six stages of the new season, in which the Giulești-based team did not obtain a single victory. Şumudica, a 53-year-old technician, played for Rapid between 1997 and 1999, then in the 2001-2002 season. He won, in the cherry-red and white shirt of Rapid club, the championship of the first Romanian league in 1999 and the Romanian Cup in 1998 and 2002. As a coach, in the 2010-2011 season, he led the Giulești team for 29 stages. He also coached Astra Giurgiu, with whom he won the champion trophy, as well as Farul Constanţa, FC Braşov, FC Vaslui, Universitatea Cluj and CFR Cluj. Among the foreign teams he coached are the Saudi groups Al Shabab and Al Raed, as well as the Turkish teams Kayserispor, Rizespor, Malatyaspor and Gaziantep. (LS)