Sports weekend

The latest from swimming and football

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Florin Orban, 21.05.2021, 13:45

Romanian swimmer Robert Glinţă on Thursday won the gold
medal in the 100m backstroke event as part of the ongoing European Swimming
Championships in Budapest. Glinta set a new national record since he clocked 52
secs and 88 hundredths, We recall Glinta had also set the previous national
record, with 53 secs and 32 hundredths. The latter record was set by Glinta on
May 27, 2018. Robert Glinta has already secured his participation in the Tokyo Olympics
for the 100m backstroke event. Robert won his second medal in the European
competition held in Hungary, having walked away with silver in the 50m event. The
fact that Glinta walked home with gold in a seniors’ European swimming
championship, in the men’s version of the competition, is an absolute first for
Romania. Also, Glinta’s gold medal comes after a 17-year gap in Romania’s
swimming record. We recall that in Madrid, in 2004, Camelia Potec won gold in
the 200m freestyle event.

Robert Glinţă was born on April 18, 1997, in Piteşti. Robert
took up sports at a very early age. He first tried karate, then he took up
swimming. Glinta broke dozens of national records, in the children and junior
categories, but also in the seniors’ version of competitions nationwide. Robert
Glinta was the only Romanian swimmer to have reached as far as the finals at
the 2016 edition of the Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro. Robert’s best result
back then was the 8th place in the 100m backstroke event.

In news from football, this past Thursday, Academica
Clinceni grabbed a 2-1 home win against Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe. This was the last
fixture counting towards Group 1’s 9th round as part of League One
championship. One round before the end of the championship, Sepsi Sfantu
Gheorghe are 4th placed in the rankings, being 3 points behind the 3rd-placed
team, Universitatea Craiova. The team that in the final is 3rd-placed
will have a playoff fixture to gain access to the European Conference League.
The team will face the winner of the match pitting Chindia Târgovişte against Viitorul
Constanţa, two teams coming from the domestic championship’s Group 2. However,
Universitatea Craiova can have a faster access to European competitions. This
coming Saturday in the southern Romanian of Ploiesti, Universitatea Craiova
take on Astra Giurgiu, in Romanian Cup final. Should Universitatea Craiova win,
they will book their ticket for the Conference League, while Sepsi Sfantu
Gheorghe are sent into playoffs. For the first time since the
pandemic-generated restrictions have been put in place in our country, the Romanian
Cup final will be played with fans attending. As of this weekend, 25% of
sports arenas’ seating capacity is open to sports fans. Access is allowed to vaccinated
persons and to those who tested negative for coronavirus.