The Year 2019 in sport part two

The second part of the headline-hitting sports events in 2019

Florin Orban, 24.12.2019, 13:45

The second half of
the Year 2019 in sports also brought the end of the domestic footballs season.
As an absolute first, Viitorul Constanta won Romania’s Super Cup, having
secured a 1-nil win against CFR Cluj, in a match hosted by the southern
Romanian town of Ploiesti. Also as an absolute first in July, a Romanian tennis
player won the Wimbledon tournament in the ladies’ singles event since in the
final, Simona Halep thrashed US challenger Serena Williams, rated as the
greatest woman tennis player of all time, 6-2, 6-2. Then the Bucharest Open was
won by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who in the final outclassed Romania’s
Patricia Tig, 6-2, 6-nil. Also in July, at the World Fencing Championship in
Budapest, the Romanian Bianca Pascu walked away with bronze in the women’s
individual saber event.

Early in August
2019, the Romanian tennis player Patricia Tig won the WTA tournament in
Karlsruhe, an event with 125,000 USD in prize money. In the final, Tig defeated
Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. In the men’s doubles, the pair made
of Horia Tecău and Jean-Julien Rojer wasted the opportunity to win the ATP
tournament in Washington, and event with one million and nine hundred thousand
US dollars up for grabs. In the final, the Romanian-Dutch pair was defeated by
Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus of South Africa and New Zealand, respectively, 3-6,
6-3, 10-2.

At the World Rowing
Championships held in Szeged, Hungary, the Romanian delegation did not win any
medal. Best-placed were Victor Mihalachi and Cătălin Chirilă, who came in 5th
in the final of the 1000m men’s canoe double, thus securing their qualification
for the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Rounding off the month of
August was the silver medal won by Lăcrămioara Perijoc at the European Women’s
Boxing Championships in Madrid. In the 54-kilogram category, Perijoc defeated
Russian challenger Karina Tazabekova.

In September 2019,
the Romanian delegation won two silver medals in the World Rowing Championships
in Linz. The first medal went to the women’s double scull crew made of Nicoleta-Ancuţa
Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radiş and the men’s coxless four made of Mihaiţă
Vasile Ţigănescu, Mugurel Vasile Semciuc, Ştefan Constantin Berariu and Cosmin
Pascari. Seven of Romania’ s crews secured their qualification to the 2020
edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The women’s lightweight double scull
crew, women’s coxless four and the men’s coxless four crews. Then there were
also the men’s double sculls, women’s double sculls, women’s coxless pair and
men’s coxless pair crews.

At the European
Table tennis Championships in Nantes, France, Romania won gold, securing a
3-nil win against Portugal. Romania’s points were earned by Bernadette Szőcs, Daniela
Dodean Monteiro and Elizabeta Samara. Romania thus added its 5th European title
to its record. We recall Romania was European champion in 1992, 2002, 2005 and 2017.
Also in September, Romanian wrestler Alina Vuc won silver in the 50-kilogram category
at the World Wrestling Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

In October 2019, the
World Athletics Championships were held in Qatar. The 10-strong Romanian
delegation was unable to win any medal whatsoever. Best-placed was Alin
Firfirica, who came in 4th in the discus throw event. Then the World
Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart were also held in October. The Romanian
delegations had yet again failed to secure qualification to the 2020 edition of
the Olympic Games. Best-placed was Marian Dragulescu, who came in 4th
in the vault event. Dragulescu booked his ticket for the 2020 edition of the
Olympic Games in Tokyo, in the individual vault event. In Japan, representing
Romania will be Maria Holbura, in the individual all-round event.

Also in October, the
Romanian-Dutch pair made of Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer won final of the
ATP tournament in Basel, an event with more than two million USD in prize
money. In the final, Tecau and Rojer secured a 7-5, 6-3 win against the
all-American pair made of Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka.

In early November
2019, the Romanian fencer Ana-Maria Popescu won the World Cup epee stage in
Tallin, Estonia. In the final, Ana-Maria Popescu defeated Russia’s Violeta
Kolobova, 15-13. Then the Chinese city of Putian played host to the final of
the World Shooting Sports Federation World Cup, an event where the Romanian
Laura Coman won bronze in the 10m air rifle event.

Also in November,
Romania’s national football team wasted the opportunity to qualify for the EURO
2020, having sustained a nil-2 defeat by Sweden in Bucharest. Then In Madrid,
Romanian was thrashed by Spain, 5-nil. In Group F of the preliminaries,
qualifying for the EURO 2020 were Spain and Sweden. Romania’s last-ditch chance
to advance to EURO 2020 is the UEFA National League play-offs. In the play-offs
semifinal, Cosmin Contra’s trainees go against Iceland in March 2020, away from
home.

In December 2019, Dinamo
Bucharest’s men’s handball team qualified for the Champions League’s play-offs,
with a win-all record in the competition’s group stage. In the play-offs,
Dinamo Bucharest face Portuguese opponents Sporting Lisbon. The double-legged
tie will be held in February 2020. It will be a reenactment of the previous
edition of the League, when in the final; Sporting Lisbon won both legs.

In women’s handball,
attention-grabbing was the World Championship in Japan. Romanian came in 12th
according to the final rankings.

Also in December
2019, the Romanian football team CFR Cluj succeeded the most remarkable feat in
club football in recent years. CFR was 2nd-placed in Europa League’s
Group E and advanced to the competition’s round of 16. In February 2020, CFR
take on Spanish contenders FC Seville.

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