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Florin Orban, 09.05.2024, 13:45
The Romanian men’s handball team defeated Czechia 31-30 on Wednesday in Baia-Mare, in the first leg of the 2025 World Cup playoffs. In their first match with George Buricea as headcoach, the Romanian handballers secured a narrow win, after at one point leading 7 goals. The return leg will be played in Brno on Sunday. Romania has taken part in the World Cup 14 times, the last time in 2011 when our team ranked 19. The World Cup will be held in 2025 over January 14 – February 2 in Croatia, Denmark and Norway.
Istanbul is hosting a pre-Olympic wrestling tournament, the last chance for athletes to book tickets to the Paris Olympics. Romania’s delegation includes 13 wrestlers, and its objective is to qualify at least 2 athletes to the Olympic Games. So far, only Andreea Beatrice Ana has qualified to the Paris Olympics in the 53-kg category, following the pre-Olympic tournament hosted by Baku in April. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Romania had a delegation consisting of five wrestlers – three in the women’s competition, one in the men’s freestyle competition and one in the Greek-Roman competition.
27 Romanian cyclists are representing Romania in the European Mountain Bike Championships hosted by Cheile Grădiştei, 200 km north of Bucharest. The team includes Vlad Dascălu, the European champion in Olympic cross-country, who will also represent Romania at the Paris Olympics. Organizers say worldclass athletes will be at the lineup, including Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, several-time world champion in mountain bike events, as well as her compatriot Victor Koretzky, several-time champion in the relay event. The seniors finals are slated for Sunday. (VP)