Radio România Internațional

Tag: Athlete of the Week

  • Athlete of the Week: tennis player Monica Niculescu

    Athlete of the Week: tennis player Monica Niculescu

    In the ladies’ doubles at Wimbledon, the Romanian-Taiwanese pair made up of Monica Niculescu and Hao-Ching Chan has got through to the quarterfinals. In the tournament’s fourth round 9th-seeds Niculescu and Chan outclassed the Brazilian –Croatian pair made up of Beatriz Haddad Maia and Ana Konjuh, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Previously, in the first round, Niculescu and Chang defeated the Romanian Paraguayan pair made up of Raluca Olaru and Veronica Cepede Royg, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. In the second round, Monica Niculescu and Hao-Ching Chan overpowered the Turkish-Thai pair made up of Ipek Soylu and Varatchaya Wongteanchai, 6-3, 6-3.




    For Monica Nicuescu, it was the best performance in a double event at Wimbledon. Also, Niculescu has paralleled her career-best so far in a Grand Slam tournament, having reached as far as the quarterfinals in Roland Garros in 2010, and in Melbourne, in 2012. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Monica Niculescu the Athlete of the Week.




    Monica Nicuescu was born in the southern Romania ton of Slatina on September 25, 1987. She has been living in Bucharest ever since she was four. Niculescu took up tennis at the age of five and has been a pro since 2002. Her best position so far has been no. 28 in the world, attained in February 2012. In the women’s doubles rankings, she climbed up on the 15th position in August 2016. At the moment, Niculescu ranks 51st according to the women’s singles classification and 25th, in the women’s doubles rankings. So far Niculescu has won 11 WTA tournaments, of which three were in the singles event, while eight were in the doubles event. In April 2017, Niculescu won one single WTA competition, in Switzerland’s Biele in the women’s doubles, pairing up with Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh.

  • Athlete of the week on RRI: Gymnast Marian Dragulescu

    Athlete of the week on RRI: Gymnast Marian Dragulescu

    Marian Dragulescu is Romania’s best gymnast in the new millennium. There is only one Romanian athlete who won better results than Dragulescu. His name is Marius Urzica the only one to have reaped gold in a men’s Olympic contest. Aged 36, Marian Dragulescu does not seize to amaze us as he still is among the world’s elite in the floor and vault events.



    At the end of last week, this remarkable Romanian athlete attended the World Cup in Doha, Qatar, where he managed to come third in the floor event and eighth in the vault contest. For doing so well in Qatar, Radio Romania International has designated Dragulescu the Athlete of the Week.



    Marian Dragulescu was born on December 18th 1980 in Bucharest. He won his first important result at the European Junior Contest in Saint Petersburg in 1998, when he came first in the pommel horse event. His prize closet, which includes 8 world titles and two European ones, still lacks an Olympic gold, although he came close enough to the first position in the ranking. He walked away with three medals from Athens Olympics — silver in the floor contest and bronze with the team and in the vault event. In the floor contest he got the same mark as Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt of Canada and lost through a referee decision. However, he missed the second vault after getting the highest mark in the contest. In 2005 and 2009 he was designated the best Romanian athlete of the year.



    He withdrew from competitions twice, in 2005 and 2012 but returned every time. His latest performance was at the European championships in Bern last year, when he reaped silver in the floor and vault events. An exercise in the vault event is bearing his name.

  • Athlete of the Week: Tennis Player Horia Tecau

    Athlete of the Week: Tennis Player Horia Tecau

    The Romanian-Dutch team Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer have won the mens doubles final at Wimbledon, in a three set match, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Jamie Murray of the UK and John Peers of Australia.



    This is the first time that Tecau wins at Wimbledon, and not for lack of trying. He got to the finals three times in a row, in 2010, 11 and 12, playing alongside Swedish Robert Lindstedt. Tecau thus becomes the second Romanian to win a mens title in a Grand Slam in the doubles, after Ilie Nastase won in the US Open in 1975, playing alongside Jimmy Connors. Tecau and Rojer have played 13 finals since they paired up in 2014, winning ten of them. For his accomplishments, Horia Tecau is RRIs choice for Athlete of the Week.



    As he himself said upon returning home after the competition, the Wimbledon title was the loftiest dream. He said: “I have to come back to my senses, enjoy this trophy and find the next dream. I think the next dream for me will be the US Open title. I have to have another dream, another motivation, to go forward.



    Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer have now reached the top of the ATP Race standings, published on Monday, for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Tecau and Rojer have gone up three places, and have more than 600 points over their closest competitors, Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil. The best eight pairs of the year take part in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals between November 15 and 22, played on a hard court.



    Horia Tecau was born in Brasov on January 19, 1985. He started tennis when he was seven. In 2002 he won the Wimbledon title in the junior doubles, next to Florin Mergea. He turned pro in 2003. Since July 2008 he has been in the top 100 players in the world in the doubles, moving to the top 50 in November 2009. In the summer of 2012, he reached the top five of players in the world, the best placed Romanian player in the double formula in the history of the ATP, before this last great accomplishment.