The year in sport – Part 1

A look back at the year in Romanian sports.

Florin Orban, 27.12.2021, 13:45

2021 saw a return of sports events, after an almost complete
shutdown caused by the Covid pandemic in 2020. For Romanian sports, this year
was fairly good compared with the expectations of fans and athletes themselves.

The first big event of 2021 was the Dakar Rally held
in Saudi Arabia. Romania’s Emanuel Gyenes was also in competition, finishing in
23rd place in the general classification, up 6 places from the
previous edition. He was in 2nd place in the Malle Moto and Marathon
class.

Next came the Australian Open in February, when all of
Romania’s hopes were pinned on Simona Halep, who was seeded second in Melbourne
and who had reached the final here in 2018 and the semifinals in 2020. This
time, however, she only made it as far as the quarterfinals, where she lost to
Serena Williams in straight sets.

In March, Romania took part in the European Under-21 Football
Championships hosted by Hungary and Slovenia, but didn’t advance past the group
stage. Despite this, they had a decent run, drawing against The Netherlands and
Germany and winning against Hungary. Also in March but in tennis, the
Romanian-Latvian doubles pair Monica Niculescu and Jelena Ostapenko reached the final of the Doha tournament, while Horia
Tecău and Germany’s Kevin Krawietz played the final of the Rotterdam tournament
in men’s doubles.

In April, at the European Weightlifting Championships
in Moscow, Romanian athletes won 13 medals, including 7 gold, 4 silver and 2
bronze. Monica Csengeri won 3 gold medals in the 49 kg category, Loredana Toma 3
gold medals in the 64 kg categpory, Raluca Olaru won a gold and a silver medal
in the 71 kg category and Mihaela Valentina Cambei won a silver medal in the 49
kg category in the clean and jerk event. In the men’s competition, Valentin
Iancu-Ionadi won two silver medals in the 55 kg category in the clean and jerk
event and in the general classification. April was a good month for Romania,
its rowing team picking up 6 medals at the European Rowing Championships in Italy,
namely two gold in the women’s eight and women’s double sculls; and four silver,
in the lightweight women’s single sculls and women’s pair and the men’s coxless
four and men’s eight.

In May, the women’s handball side Minaur Baia Mare
finished the EHF European League in third place, defeating the Danish side Herning-Ikast
in the game for the third place. The French side Nantes won the competition,
defeating the Hungarian side Siofok. Also in May, the Romanian city of Baia
Mare hosted the European League handball semifinals and finals, but the
highlight of the month came from swimming, with Robert Glinţă winning gold in
the 100 m backstroke final at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest. This
was Romania’s first medal in the men’s senior European swimming championships. In
Budapest, Glinţă also won the silver in the 50 m backstroke race.

In June, Romania’s Cătălin Chirilă and Victor
Mihalachi won the bronze medal in the men’s canoe double 1,000 m race at the Canoe
Sprint European Championships held in Poznan, in Poland. In tennis, Irina Begu had
the best run of all Romanian players in competition, reaching the women’s doubles
semifinals together with Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska. Also in June, Elizabeta
Samara won the bronze medal in the women’s singles at the European Table Tennis
Championships in Warsaw. (CM)