Radio România Internațional

Tag: Aryna Sabalenka

  • Athlete of the Week

    Athlete of the Week

    Tennis tournaments are staged in the month of February in the Gulf area as this is the only place in the northern hemisphere, which offers the best conditions for this sport, this time of the year.

    Last week, for instance, the women’s WTA 1000 tournament was staged in Dubai, a competition with three million and two hundred thousand dollars in prize money. The trophy was won by Italian Jasmine Paolini, who outperformed Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the finals. Romanian Sorana Cîrstea had made it to the semifinals, where she lost to Paolini, who had a really extraordinary week. Cîrstea obtained a check of 158,944 dollars, 390 WTA points, and Radio Romania International has designated her Athlete of the Week.

    In the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Sorana stood up against US challenger Sofia Kenin, whom she beat in a two setter, 6-3, 7-6. Next she took on 13th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, whom she outperformed 6-1, 6-4. She had a difficult eighth finals match against Donna Vekic of Croatia who had come after a win against second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

    Cîrstea won the match in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Then followed another dificult game in the quarters against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. The Romanian obtained a three-set win, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, after a fantastic comeback in the second set. In the semifinals, however, fatigue took its toll on Sorana who eventually lost to Paolini 6-2, 7-6.

    Sorana Cîrstea was born in Târgovişte (southern Romania), on April 7th 1990. She turned professional in 2006, a year which she ended on the 348th place in the world ranking. She has so far won two WTA tournaments; the first in Tashkent in 2008 and the second 13 years later in Istanbul. In August 2013 she obtained the best position in her entire career, the 21st position. She went through a more difficult period fraught with medical issues, but she recovered and almost regained the shape that made her famous. She is presently 22nd in the world ranking.

    (bill)

  • December 30, 2017 UPDATE

    December 30, 2017 UPDATE

    BRANCUSI The people who made donations so that the Romanian state could buy Constantin Brancusi’s statue ‘Wisdom of the Earth’ are to get their money back, under an emergency ordinance issued by the government, which has already been published in the Official Gazette. The money, which is to be returned until December 31st 2018, will be assured from the state budget via the Culture Ministry’s budget. We recall the technocratic government led by Dacian Ciolos in 2016 launched a fund-raising campaign aimed at bringing the statue back to Romania. Six million euros needed to be raised until September 30th 2016. The government provided most part of the sum, five million, but the money raised through donations wasn’t enough. Built in 1907, ‘Wisdom of the Earth’ together with ‘the Kiss’ and ‘the Prayer’ are marking the most appreciated period in the career of the Romanian artist.




    SECURITY Authorities in Europe and the USA have announced increased security measures for the New Year’s open-air festivities as many countries have in recent years seen terror attacks. 140 thousand police, gendarmes and army troops will be patrolling the streets of France, with a special focus on Champs-Elysees where alcohol consumption is banned on New Year’s Eve. Concrete barriers are to be placed to prevent cars from entering crowded areas. Additional surveillance cameras have been mounted in several cities across Germany. Police sources have said that armed policemen will be patrolling the streets of London, while concrete barriers are to be placed in the city center. Police in Brussels have informed on the increased security measures that are to be implemented in all the public places where people are expected to celebrate the New Year’s Eve while the NYPD has also taken increased security measures in Times Square. Authorities have also announced a ramped-up police presence in Romania’s crowded areas on the New Year’s Eve.




    RESHUFFLE Liviu Dragnea, the head of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main party of the leftist ruling coalition, has announced that next month he will discuss with their partners, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) about a possible government reshuffle. Dragnea has pointed out that personally, he is satisfied with the activity of the ministers and of PM Mihai Tudose. The Social Democratic leader has also said that he is against an extraordinary parliament session summoned to discuss amendments to the Criminal Codes, and he also opposes the issuing of an emergency decree on this matter. He believes that these bills must also be passed following debates, but emphasises the fact that by April 2018 the EU directive regarding the presumption of innocence and the right to fair trial must be included into the Romanian law. Other amendments to the Criminal Codes are generated by rulings of the Romanian Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights. The right-of-center opposition, civil society and the media are harshly criticising the government coalition’s plan to amend the justice laws, and accuse them of trying to subordinate magistrates and put an end to the battle against corruption. Last week, embassies of seven EU member states called on all parties involved in the reform process of the Romanian justice system to avoid any action that might compromise the independence of the judicial system.




    TENNIS Several tennis players from Romania are participating in the Shenzhen tournament in China with 700 thousand dollars in prize money. During the competition, which is due to kick off on December 31st, Romania’s Simona Halep will be taking on Nicole Gibbs of the USA in their first match so far. Irina Begu from Romania will be up against Chinese Fangzhou Liu, also in their first game. Mihaela Buzarnescu, who had an excellent season in 2017 climbing up 500 positions in the WTA standings, will be up against a redoubtable opponent, Maria Sharapova. This will also be their first game so far. Monica Niculescu, also from the Romanian delegation will play Aryna Sabalenka of Byelorussia. Another Romanian challenger, Ana Bogdan, is up against Camila Giorgi of Italy. The two met in 2017 also in Shenzhen in a match that went to the Italian player. In the first qualification round on Saturday, Irina Bara of Romania conceded defeat to Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland. Halep is the odds-on favourite of the tournament, which she also won in 2015. The Romanian needs this title if she wants to remain number 1 in the world rankings.