Radio România Internațional

Tag: diving

  • Sports roundup


    The
    European U-21 table tennis championship has recently drawn to a close in
    Skopje, North Macedonia. The Romanian participants walked away with 6 medals, of
    which one gold, four silver and one bronze. Gold went to the pair made of Bianca Mei-Roşu and Elena
    Zaharia in the women’s doubles event. Also in the women’s doubles, pairing up with
    Slovenian Sara Tokic, Camelia Mitrofan won silver. In the women’s singles, Elena Zaharia won silver, and also
    silver went to the mixed doubles pair made of Elena Zaharia and Darius
    Movileanu. In the men’s doubles, pairing up with Eduard Ionescu, Movileanu won yet
    another silver medal. Also in the men’s doubles Iulian Chiriţă and Andrei
    Istrate won bronze.


    In high-diving,
    the Romanian swimmer Constantin Popovici has become the new champion of the Red
    Bull Cliff Diving world circuit. We recall Popovici won the last leg in 2023,
    held in New Zealand this past weekend. Overall, 4th placed was another
    Romanian, Cătălin Preda.


    At the Euro
    Meet International Contest held in Luxembourg, Romanian swimmer David Popovici won gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. In 100m freestyle, Popovici set a
    new competitional record, clocking 48 seconds and one hundredths of a second. We
    recall that since August 13, 2022, David Popovici holds the record of the event,
    with 46 seconds and 86 hundredths of a second. Popovici will stay focused on his special training ahead of the Summer Olympics Games in Paris, so he
    announced he would not participate in the World Swimming Championships, to be
    held in Doha beginning February 2nd.


    Corona
    Braşov has won Romania’s Cup in Ice Hockey. This past Sunday, in the final,
    Corona Brasov defeated ACSH Gheorgheni, 5-3. The Cup’s final tournament was
    held in Gheorgheni. In the 3rd-place final, Steaua Bucharest defeated
    Fenestela Braşov, 5-4. Following the victories in 2013, 2015 and 2021, Corona
    Brasov won the trophy for the fourth time around.


    Matches counting towards the Romanian football Superleague’s 23rd
    round were played this past weekend. On Friday, in Ovidiu, Farul Constanta
    defeated FC U Craiova, 1-nil. On Saturday, UTA Arad grabbed a 2-1 home win against
    Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. On the former team’s turf, the match pitting Oţelul Galati
    against Petrolul Ploieşti ended in a blank draw. On the National Arena in Bucharest,
    Rapid defeated Dinamo, 2-1. In Sibiu on Sunday, FC Hermannstadt defeated Botoşani, 2-1. Poli Iasi
    grabbed a 1-nil home win against Universitatea Craiova, while FCSB grabbed a
    3-nil win against Universitatea Craiova. With 50 points, FCSB are at the top of
    the table, 11 points clear of the runner-up team, Rapid Bucharest.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    The World Swimming
    Championships in Japan’s Fukukoa drew to a close last week. For Romanian swimming,
    some swimmers’ performances were dismally below-par, while other swimmers confirmed
    their standing. We know all too well all hopes were pinned on world record
    holder and European champion in the 100m freestyle event and holder of the European
    title in the 200m freestyle event, David Popovici. He failed to step onto a
    step of the podium at least once. However, high-diving swimmers Costantin Popovici and Cătălin Preda’s
    performance way above par: the two came in 1st and second, respectively.
    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Constantin Popovici the
    athlete of the week.


    In this past Tuesday’s
    high dives, from the 27-meter-high board, Popovici and Preda came in 1st
    and 2nd, respectively, in the first two series. Following in
    descending order were Ukrainian Oleksiy Prigorov, Spaniard Carlos Gimeno and French Gary Hunt. Following
    two more jumps on Thursday, Constantin Popovici became world champion, with a
    total of 472.80 points. Second came in Cătălin Preda, with 438.45 points.
    Stepping on the third step of the podium was French diver Gary Hunt, with 426.30
    points. Constantin Popovici said the following:


    The pressure was quite high, I tried to focus on what I had to do and I eventually
    succeeded. Given that it was four years ago when we last had a world
    championship, you don’t get the chance to participate in such a contest quite often
    and my motivation was I think the strongest of all participants today.


    Constantin Popovici was born in Bucharest on October 2nd,
    1988. In 2008, in Beijing, Popovici represented Romania in the high-diving event
    and came in 23rd in the 10-meter-high board. Popovici retired from competition,
    then he resumed his activity, focusing on high diving. In 2019 he was the first
    Romanian to have won a contest as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. In 2022 Popovici
    became a European champion in Rome. At present, he is the world’s best diver. As
    regards the prospects of high diving as a sports discipline, Popovici was upbeat
    about it.


    There are countries acknowledging this sports discipline as a
    discipline with a cleat-cut future, a sports discipline with a lot of potential,
    very likely to become an Olympic discipline pretty soon. There are such
    countries as Canada or the USA where such dedicated facilities were built and where
    they invest in so many people. It may not be an Olympic discipline, yet they invest
    because they know that time will come when it will gain such a status, and that
    will find themselves having everything at the ready and being also prepared to
    win the Olympic medals. Romania has shown a little bit of interest to that end,
    but I think there’s a lot more that needs to be done, given that we have the
    world’s best high divers.

  • Sports weekend

    Sports weekend


    The World Swimming Championships drew to a close in Japan’s Fukukoa this
    past Sunday. The Romanian delegation walked home with two medals, both won in
    the competition’s high-diving events. Constantin
    Popovici won gold, while Cătălin Preda, silver. All hopes were pinned on the
    holder of the 200m freestyle European record as well as the 100m freestyle
    world record holder, David Popovici. This time around, the Romanian failed to
    step onto a step of the podium.


    The World Fencing
    Championships drew to a close in Milan, Italy. Romania sent a 15-strong delegation,
    with 12 twelve fencers competing in the men’s events and 5 in the women’s events.
    The delegation walked away with no medal. Best-placed was Mălina Călugăreanu, in the foil event, who came in 8th.
    Apart from medals, the competition offered important points required for the qualification
    to the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games in Paris.


    As part of the Summer
    Sports European Youth Olympic Festival that has been recently held in Slovenia’s
    Maribor, Romania came in 4th in the nations’ competition in terms of
    medals. The Romanian athletes won 9 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals. Five of the gold medals were provided by swimmers.
    Robert Badea won the mixed 200 and 400m events, Aissia Prisăcariu won the 200m backstroke
    event, while Daria Silişteanu won the 100m backstroke event. Added to that was
    the gold medal won by the 4 by 100m women’s relay team. In judo, Tudor Moşoi won in the 60-kilogram category, while David Gliga won in the 73-kilogram category. Also
    gold went to the mixed women’s relay team, in the 100, 200 300 and 400m races. A
    gold medal winner was Alin Şavlovschi in the 2,000m steeplechase event.


    The European Junior and U23 Weightlifting Championships will be held in Bucharest until
    this coming Thursday. In the first week of the competition, the Romanian
    weightlifters won 14 gold medals, of which 8 in the juniors category and 6 in
    the U23 category of the competition.


    In news from
    football, this past weekend saw matches being played, counting towards the Romanian
    Super League’s third round. On Friday, U Cluj grabbed a 4-3 away win against FC
    U Craiova 1948, while in Bucharest, Rapid drew FC Botoşani, 2-all. In Sibiu on Saturday,
    FC Hermannstadt defeated UTA Arad, 2-1, while in Galati FCSB defeated the local
    side Oţelul, 2-nil. In Ovidiu on Sunday, the newly-promoted team Poli Iasi
    succeeded a 3-1 away win against holders Farul Constanta, while in Cluj, CFR drew against Universitatea Craiova, 1-all. With 9 points, FCSB are at the top of the table, while CFR,
    are second-placed, with 7.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    The World Swimming Championships are underway in Fukukoa, Japan. The Romanian swimmers who have competed so far have succeeded lacklustre results. All hopes are pinned on diver Constantin Popovici and on David Popovici, who competes in the freestyle event. Constantin Popovici is the European high-diving champion. He competes on Friday, jumping off the 10-meter platform, while the high-diving event is scheduled next week. The defending 100m and 200m freestyle world champion David Popovici competes next week as well.



    The World U-23 Rowing Championships are underway in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The Romanian womens quadruple sculls crew was the first Romanian crew to have advanced to the finals. The crew was made of Emanuela-Ioana Ciotău, Alexandra Ungureanu, Cristina Drugă and Patricia Cireş. At the 2022 edition of the World Youth Championships held in Varese, Italy, Romania walked away with three medals: gold in the womens double scull, silver in the womens quadruple sculls and bronze in mens pair events.



    In news from womens volleyball, Romanian title holders Romanian title holders Alba Blaj will play in the Champions Leagues 2nd preliminary round, according to the drawing of lots carried in Luxembourg this past Wednesday. Volei Alba Blaj go against Kralovo Pole Brno, of the Czech Republic, Gran Canaria of Spain and Hapoel Kfar Saba of Israel. The fixtures are scheduled in October. The first two teams in descending order advance to the second preliminary round, to be held as a tournament.



    In the Champions Leagues first preliminary round, Romanian mens volleyball champion team, Arcada Galaţi, has been included in a three-team group, alongside Croatias Mladost Zagreb and Guaguas Las Palmas of Spain. The first two teams in descending order advance to the second qualifying round.



    The World Fencing Championships kick-start in Milan at the weekend. Apart from medals, the competition offers important points for the qualification to the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games in Paris. Romania has entered a 15-strong delegation for the coopetition, of which 12 girls and 5 boys. In the womens version of the championships Romania will have three complete teams for all three events, while in the mens version, Romania will only have a complete team in the sabre event.