The Year in Sports – Part Two

We continue our review of the world of Romanian sports in 2016.

Florin Orban, 28.12.2016, 13:27

In Part One we looked at most noteworthy achievements in Romanian sport
in the first six months of the year, including European Football Championship
and the fencing championship held in June 2016.

July was a good month for Romanian handball and saw the national men’s
team win the World University Championship held in Malaga, Spain after
defeating South Korea in the final, 28-20. The women’s team won the silver
medal after losing to Spain, 20-14. Also in July, Romania sustained a 1-4
defeat by the Spanish men’s team in a Davis Cup match counting towards the
World Group playoffs.

In August, all eyes on the Olympic Games in Rio. Romania won five medals
in total, of which one has been withdrawn in the meantime. This was the poorest
performance by the Romanian Olympic delegation since Helsinki, in 1952, when
Romania won a mere 4 medals, of which one was gold.

But let us see who won a medal for Romania in Rio this year. The
national women’s epee team made up of many times European and world champions
Ana Maria Popescu, Simona Pop, Simona Gherman and Loredana Dinu, won the
country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in the teams event. Romania also won a
silver medal in Rio thanks to the pair made up of Florin Mergea and Horia
Tecău. The two lost the men’s doubles final to Spain’s Marc Lopez and Rafael
Nadal in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 4-6, after coming close to winning the title.
Weightlifter Gabriel Sâncrăian won Romania’s first bronze medal in Rio, but his
result has since been disqualified as Sancraian tested positive for exogenous
testosterone, which is on the list of banned substances. In rowing, Romania
again features among the sports’ greatest teams, winning a bronze medal in
women’s coxed eight. In freestyle wrestling, Albert Saritov won bronze in the
97-kilogram category. Born in Dagestan, Saritov is of Chechen origin but was
granted Romanian citizenship in 2016.

September saw Romania’s first match as part of the preliminaries for the
2018 World Football Cup. In Cluj, central Romania, the national team drew
against Montenegro, 1-all. Also in September, Romania won a medal in the summer
Paralympic games in Rio. 20-year old judoka Alex Bologa walked away with bronze
in the 60-kilogram category event for visually impaired athletes. Bologa, who
has been without his eyesight since he was 6, took up judo 6 years ago. He is
currently studying for two BA degrees.

In October, Romania’s national football team got its first win with
German manager Cristoph Daum at the helm, trouncing Armenia 5-nil, away from
home. In their next game, Romania were held to a goalless draw by Kazakhstan.
In table tennis, the Romanian Daniela Dodean-Monteiro and her husband Joao
Monteiro of Portugal won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event of the
European Championships.

In November, Romania’s football side sustained a nil-3 defeat by Poland
in the preliminaries of the 2018 World Cup. In front of a home crowd of 45,000,
Romania put on a lacklustre performance against Poland, one of Europe’s best
teams at the moment. As a result Romania have finished their 2016 qualifying
campaign in the 4th position in Group E, behind Poland, Montenegro
and Denmark.

The highlight of the month in December was the women’s handball European
Championship in Sweden. Romania finished 5th, their highest ranking
in the last three editions of the European Championship. Previously, they had
finished 10th in 2012 and 9th in 2014. Romania’s only
medal in the European Championship comes from 2010, when they won bronze.