Radio România Internațional

Tag: championships

  • RRI Sports Club

    RRI Sports Club

    European championships in various sports disciplines are usually held in April. The year 2019 was no exception, and last week 3 European-level competitions unfolded concurrently. From the Weightlifting Championships in Batumi, Georgia, the Romanian delegation walked home with 14 medals. At the European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romanian wrestlers stepped onto the podium no less than 4 times.



    However, the Romanian athletes taking part in the European Gymnastics Championships in Szczecin, Poland, returned with no medals. In the womens competition, Denisa Golgota was the closest to winning a medal. Golgota came 4th in the floor event, 5th in the beam and 6th in the vault event. Denisa Golgota was 17th-placed in the all-round event. All the other gymnasts failed to go through to the competitions finals.



    Coached by Nicolae Forminte, the Romanian womens gymnastics team had at least one medal as its target, and all hopes were pinned on Denisa Golgota, who had won silver in the floor event and bronze in the vault event in last years edition of the European championships. Nica Ivanus and Carmen Ghiciuc competed alongside Golgota, yet their run was poor. Ghiciuc came out the 16th in the beam event, while Ivanus ranked 20th, in the same event. That was the best result the two gymnasts could get at the competition. It was the first time since 1972 that the Romanian womens gymnastics failed to step onto the podium.



    In the mens competition in Szeczcin, the Romanian delegations set objective was also to win at least one medal. Only one gymnast competed in all apparatus finals, Toma Roland Modoianu – Zseder. He also came out 67th in the all-round qualifiers. The best results were obtained in the vault event, where Robert Ghiuzan came 20th, while Marian Dragulescu was 21st-placed. Otherwise, the other gymnasts results were simply lackluster.



    Commentators said the reason for the Romanians poor run at the recent championship was the significant progress made by teams with previously mediocre performances in European gymnastics. For instance, the French womens delegation ranked first in terms of overall medal count. But apart from the progress seen in other teams, we cannot help noticing that the crisis the Romanian gymnastics has been going through is deepening.




    (translated by: Eugen Nasta)

  • Fencing

    Fencing

    The European Fencing Championships are underway in Novi Sad, Serbia. Romanian sabre fencer Bianca Pascu was outclassed by Russias Svetlana Seveleva in the quarterfinals, 15-12. We recall that in the qualifiers, Pascu had outperformed Spains Lucia Martin-Portugues and Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. Pascu walked away with bronze at the 2017 edition of the European Championships held in Tbilisi.



    In the mens version of the sabre event, the Romanian Andrei Timoce was unable to move past the second round, having sustained a 15-11 defeat by Great Britains Harisson Nichols.



    In the individual womens epee event, the Romanian Ana-Maria Popescu came in 6th. In the first round, Popescu defeated Alejandra Cisneros of Spain, 15-7. In the second round, Popescu outperformed Ksenia Panteleeva of Ukraine, 15-8. In the round of 16, Ana-Maria Popescu secured a 15-12 win against Italys Rossella Fiamingo. However, in the quarterfinals Popescu lost to Estonias Julia Beljajeva 9-15. We recall that in 2016 Popescu was an Olympic champion, as part of the Romanian team, in the nations competition.



    Also in the individual womens epee event, Amalia Tătăran was 9th-placed, after being defeated in the round of 16 by Beljajeva, 10-15. Maria Udrea came in 10th, having lost the the round of 16 match to another Estonian fencer, Katrina Lehis, 6-15. Raluca Sbîrcia came in 35th.



    In the individual womens foil event, representing Romania were four fencers: Mălina Călugăreanu, Maria Boldor, Anca Săveanu and Teodora Sîrbu. Romanias best result was provided by Anca Saveanu, who was 39th-placed in the final rankings. The other three fencers coached by Florin Gheorghe, Teodora Sirbu, Malina Calugareanu and Maria Boldor, were ranked 42nd, 44th and 47th, respectively.



    In the individual mens sabre event, Tiberiu Dolniceanu came in 11th in the final rankings. The other three Romanian sabre fencers taking part in the event, Iulian Teodosiu, Alin Badea and George Dragomir, were 27th, 36th and 45th-placed, respectively.


    (translated by: Eugen Nasta)

  • June 17, 2017 UPDATE

    June 17, 2017 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT – The Social Democratic Party, the main member of the ruling coalition in Romania, stepped up the process of dismissing its own Cabinet headed by Sorin Grindeanu. Parliament will convene on Sunday to present a motion to censure, and the document will be discussed and voted on three days later, on Wednesday. The Social Democrats need 233 votes to have the motion passed, and together with their allies, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, they have 247 seats in Parliament. On Friday, ex-PM Victor Ponta was appointed secretary general of the Grindeanu Cabinet, in what analysts see as Grindeanus attempt to secure allies among the influential members of the Social Democratic Party, from which he has been recently expelled. In turn, the Social Democrats claim Sorin Grindeanu and Victor Ponta are trying to highjack the executive power. We remind you that PM Grindeanu will not step down, although the ruling coalition withdrew its political support for the Government and most ministers have resigned. Sorin Grindeanu is criticised for lack of efficiency in implementing the governing programme. In turn, he says the situation will be settled in compliance with the Constitution and the applicable legislation. The head of state, Klaus Iohannis, has called on the coalition to solve its internal crisis.




    POLITICS – Ludovic Orban, a minister of transport in 2007-2008, was elected on Saturday the new president of the National Liberal Party, the largest right-wing party in the Romanian parliamentary opposition. MEP Cristian Buşoi was his challenger in the election. Both candidates promised a revival of the party, after the deafeat in the 2016 general election, when they only got 20% of the votes, as compared to 45% for the Social Democrats. Comentators believe that, against the background of the current acute divergencies among the Social democrats, the Liberals stand good chances to return to the forefront of the domestic political arena. Attending the Liberal Congress was also the secretary general of the European Peoples Party, Antonio Lopez Isturiz White. For a long time affiliated to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, the National Liberal Party switched to the EPP in 2014. On Sunday, the Liberal Partys National coordination Council convenes to hold elections for 36 leading positions, for which over 100 party members are competing.




    HELMUT KOHL – President Klaus Iohannis sent condolences to his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the death of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The head of the Romanian state paid tribute to “a great statesman and European leader and a source of inspiration for his handling of the challenges posed by the Cold War and the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Iohannis added that Kohl was a close friend of Romania, having contributed to the success of the current Romanian-German relations. In turn, Emil Constantinescu, president of Romania in 1996 to 2000, said Helmut Kohl would be remembered in the history of Europe for his contribution to the remodelling of NATO and the EU in keeping with the great challenge represented by the end of the Cold War and its ultimate symbol, the fall of the Berlin Wall. Helmut Kohl died on Friday at the age of 87. Politicians from around the world have praised the outstanding European leader.




    CELEBRATION – The PM of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, accompanied by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, took part in Sibiu on Saturday in the celebration of 10 years since this Romanian city and Luxembourg were together European Capitals of Culture. A member of the German community in Romania, the descendants of the Saxon colonists coming to Transylvania in the Middle Ages, President Iohannis was the Mayor of Sibiu in 2007, when Romania joined the EU, and his city was a European capital of Culture together with Luxembourg. The partnership between Sibiu and Luxembourg remains an example of what the European spirit is all about, Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday, and voiced hope that the borders that may build walls between Europeans would be replaced by bridges of culture, freedom and tolerance. Also on Saturday, the two officials attended the opening of an honorary consular office of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Sibiu.




    FRENCH ELECTION – France is holding the second round of legislative elections on Sunday, under the restrictions of the state of emergency following the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015. The newly elected president Emmanuel Macron is seeking to secure a parliamentary majority to support the programme on which he won the presidential ballot last month. With over 32% of the votes in the first round, held last Sunday, Macrons Republique en Marche movement is expected to win between 400 and 445 seats out of the total 577 in the French Parliament.




    FENCING – Romanias womens epee team won the bronze on Saturday in the European Fencing Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, after beating Estonia 45-38. Romania also won the bronze in last years edition of the competition, held in Torun, Poland. Romanias participation in the Tbilisi championships thus ends with 2 bronze medals, the first of them won on Monday by Bianca Pascu, in the individual sabre event.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • May 3, 2017

    May 3, 2017

    ORGANISED CRIME – Police and prosecutors with the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have today conducted home searches in Bucharest and several counties in Romania, targeting an organised crime group in a case involving the National Freight Railways Corporation. Forty people, including the current and the former managers of the corporation, are suspected of having set up an organised crime group, aggravated embezzlement, forgery and fraud. The group members allegedly under-appraised in 2016 assets belonging to the company, before selling nearly 2,500 freight cars intended for scrapping. The difference between the actual worth and the under-assessed worth of the goods went, according to the police, into the accounts of a company that collected ferrous scrap metal. As a result, the Corporation incurred losses of over 6.3 million euros.




    PRESS FREEDOM – “Journalists are intimidated not just in authoritarian regimes, but also in countries that are usually regarded as democratic, the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani said in a message on World Press Freedom Day, celebrated today. A former journalist himself, Tajani mentions as negative examples Turkey, Russia and China, and says the EU is the strongest defender of the freedom of expression all over the world. World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in Bucharest as well, with the launch of the FreeEx Report on press freedom in Romania in 2016-2017, which looks at the main events with an impact on the freedom of expression. Previously, a similar report drawn up by Reporters without Borders (RSF) and released last week ranked Romania 46th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom. “The excessive politicising of the mass-media, corrupt financing mechanisms, editorial policies subordinated to owner interests and the intelligence agency infiltration of staff – such has been the impact of the medias transformation into political propaganda tools, which has been particularly visible in election years, reads the RSF report. Romania went up 3 places since last year, when it was 49th in this ranking.




    TOURISM – Check-ins in Romanian accommodation units in the first quarter of the year totalled more than 2 million people, up around 11% compared to the same period of 2016, according to data made public today by the National Statistics Institute. Most of the foreign tourists came from Europe (76.2% of the total), especially from Germany, Italy, and the UK. Last year the number of foreign tourists was nearly 11% larger than in 2015, namely 2.5 million, a record for the last few decades.




    BREXIT – Britain will not pay 100 billion euros to leave the EU, the Brexit Secretary David Davis said today, after British media reported that the EU negotiators have revised their original figures. The new bill, 40 billion euros higher than previous estimates, includes the payment of farming subsidies and administrative fees to the EU. Other elements taken into account are the budget of the UK and the EU investment expenditure. The revision of estimates indicates a tougher position taken by the 27 member states with respect to Britains demands. Today, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will present detailed guidelines for the EU side. The date of the official divorce was set for March 29, 2019, unless an extension is agreed on by decision-makers.




    MOLDOVA – The presence of any troops or military bases headed and controlled by other countries, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, is against the Constitution, Moldovas Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday. The president of the Constitutional Court, Alexandru Tănase, explained that although the legislation makes it clear that the Republic of Moldova does not allow the deployment of foreign military on its territory, there are still Russian Federation troops in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester.




    WRESTLING – The Romanian athlete Andrei Dukov won the silver in the 57-kilo freestyle category, on Tuesday, at the European Wrestling Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. Defeated in the final by the Georgian-born Azeri Giorgi Edisherashvili, Dukov improved his performance since last year, when he won bronze in the continental championship. Also on Tuesday, on the first day of the competition, the Romanian Alina Vuc won the bronze in the 48 kilo category, after defeating the Polish Anna Lukasiak. Romania, which has already reached its two medal target for this competition, is taking part in the European Championship in Novi Sad with 14 athletes.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 22, 2017 UPDATE

    April 22, 2017 UPDATE

    SIREN ALERT DRILL – The outcomes of the alarm drill carried out in Romania this week indicate that the coverage of siren signal is below 50% of the total national territory. According to data provided by the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, hundreds of sirens could not be tested because of breakdowns or of a shortage of siren operators. In the capital city Bucharest, less than a quarter of the sirens were operational during the drill. Under these circumstances, the Inspectorate, jointly with the Communications Ministry, is analysing the option of setting up a complementary citizen information system for disaster situations. Mobile phone texting is one of the options, which will be discussed until mid-May with telecoms operators, said the Communications Minister Augustin Jianu.




    EARTH DAY – On April 22nd, every year, International Earth Day is celebrated. This year the event was held under the motto Environmental and climate literacy, launching a 3-year world education campaign, according to a UN resolution. In Bucharest, Earth Day was marked with an open door day at the National Geology Museum. Special activities for children, concerts and street art events were also organised, and in other cities in Romania people were also invited to take part in events, competitions and exhibitions on environmental topics.




    MILITARY – Romanian troops from Battalion 307 Marines are taking part, until April 30th, in a multinational exercise in Latvia, called “Summer Shield. Alongside the Romanian troops, over 1,000 military from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the US, Canada, UK, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland are taking part. Air defence, exploration and artillery support exercises will be held, as well as weapons of mass destruction defence, anti-tank defence and military engineering exercises. “Summer Shield has been held in Latvia since 2004. Starting 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the exercise became part of NATO manoeuvres. As many as 1,300 troops took part in it in 2016.




    FINANCIAL RATING – Moodys has reconfirmed its BAA3 rating for Romanias long-term debt and P-3 rating for the short-term debt. According to a news release issued by the Finance Ministry, the outlook was changed from positive to “stable, in line with the level granted from other international agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and JCRA. The Romanian Finance Minister Viorel Ştefan said Romanias sustainable economic growth, improved institutional framework, continued structural reforms and low public debt will contribute to a future improvement of the country rating.




    AVALANCHE – Two teenagers died on Saturday in an avalanche in Retezat Mountains, south-western Romania. The victims were part of a group of 51 people, many of whom were children. The local mountain rescue service had warned on Friday against imminent avalanche risks triggered by the snowfalls of the past few days.




    ILLEGAL MIGRANTS – over 100 migrants, who were trying to leave Romania illegally, hidden in a lorry, were apprehended at Nădlac II checkpoint in the west of the country. More than 40 of them were children. The refugees, who had applied for asylum in Romania, came from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and India. They admitted that they were trying to enter the Schengen area, and have been charged with attempted illegal border crossing.




    FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – Over 50,000 police and gendarme will be working to ensure safety and order during the presidential election, PM Bernard Cazeneuve announced after Thursday nights shooting on police forces on Champs-Élysées Boulevard in Paris. The attack upset the agendas of the candidates and brought the fight against terrorism back to the forefront of the debate. A poll run after the Champs-Élysées shooting finds Emmanuel Macron at the top of voter preferences, with 24.5%, followed by the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, with 23%, and François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who share the third place, with 19% each.




    TENNIS – Romanias womens tennis team is playing this weekend against the UK at home, in the playoffs for the Fed Cup World Group II. On Saturday, the British Johanna Konta defeated Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-3, after in the first match of the day Simona Halep had outplayed Heather Watson, 6-4, 6-1. On Sunday Halep is to play Konta and Irina Begu will take on Watson. Later on Sunday the doubles game will be played, between Monica Niculescu/Sorana Cirstea and Laura Robson/Jocelyn Rae. Romania and Britain have so far played against each other in Fed Cup five times, with Romania winning four of the ties. Meanwhile, Romanias FED Cup captain, the former world no 1 player Ilie Nastase, caused a scandal ahead of the play-off, through reportedly racist comments about Serena Willians and inappropriate conduct in relation to the British team captain Anne Keothavong. The ITF has begun an investigation.




    GYMNASTICS – The Romanian Marian Drăgulescu Saturday won the gold in the floor finals of the European Gymnastics Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The European competition was hosted by the Transylvanian city, between April 19 and 23, 60 years after the first edition held in Romania. 274 athletes from 37 countries have taken part, with Romania represented by 10 gymnasts. On Sunday, Larisa Iordache and Cătălina Ponor will compete in the beam finals. Also on Sunday, in the mens competition, Marian Drăgulescu takes part in the vault finals. in last years edition, in Bern, Marian Drăgulescu won 2 silver medals in the mens floor and vault finals, and Cătălina Ponor won 2 bronze medals in the womens floor and beam events.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)