Radio România Internațional

Tag: European Gymnastics Championships

  • Medals for Romanian athletes

    Medals for Romanian athletes

    Several European competitions are scheduled
    for April, and Romanian delegations have grabbed very good results and actually
    scooped a number of medals. Most medals were grabbed at the European
    Weightlifting Championships hosted by Yerevan, Armenia. Although the
    competition is scheduled to end on April 23, Romanian athletes have already won
    11 medals, six of which are gold. On Saturday, in the 49-kg category, Mihaela
    Cambei won gold in the snatch event with 92 kilograms, in clean and jerk with
    106 kilograms and in total with 198 kilograms. She also set two new European
    records in the snatch and total events. Also on Saturday, in the 45-kg
    category, Cosmina Pană won two silver medals, in the snatch and total events.
    The best results that day were grabbed by Andreea Cotruța, who represented
    Romania in the 55-kg category. Our athlete won gold in the snatch event with 91
    kilograms, in the clean and jerk event with 110 kilograms, missing one attempt
    in each event, and won the total event with 201 kilograms. Also on Sunday, in
    the men’s competition, Valentin Iancu won bronze in the snatch event and silver
    in the clean and jerk and total events in the 55-kg category. On Wednesday, the
    several-time world and European champion Loredana Toma will compete in the
    71-kg category. The objective set for the Romanian delegation was four medals.
    It’s also worth mentioning that the World Championships in Yerevan is one of
    the five competitions Romanian athletes can choose to take part in if they want
    to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. All weightlifters must compete in at
    least three out of the five events.



    Our Romanian gymnasts also have their eyes
    set on the Olympic Games to be hosted by France next year, as last weekend they
    competed in the European Championships hosted by Antalya, Turkey. The men’s
    team ranked 11 in the team event, while the women’s team ranked 5, which
    guarantees qualification to the World Championships to be hosted this autumn by
    Antwerp, Belgium. This event will decide which teams will qualify to the
    Olympic Games. It’s worth noting in this respect that Romania has qualified to
    the gymnastics event at the Olympic Games since 2012. In the latest European
    Championships in Turkey, Sabrina Voinea won bronze in the floor event and
    ranked 4th in the vault final. In the men’s competition, Gabriel
    Burtănete ranked 4th in
    the vault final, while Andrei Muntean ranked 4th in the parallel
    bars event. (VP)



  • April 14, 2021 UPDATE

    April 14, 2021 UPDATE


    DISMISSAL – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis
    on Wednesday signed the decree designating Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu
    as interim Health Minister, after the latter sacked Health Minister Vlad
    Voiculescu, from the Save Romania Union. Florin Cîţu motivated his decision,
    saying he wanted to maintain public confidence in state institutions, to be
    able to overcome the difficult period generated by the pandemic. Dan Barna, the
    co-president of the USR PLUS Alliance, which is part of the ruling coalition
    alongside the Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in
    Romania, said the prime minister no longer has the Alliance’s political
    support. Dacian Cioloş, the other co-president of the USR PLUS Alliance,
    described as unacceptable the fact that the prime minister did not consult the
    USR-PLUS leadership before sacking the health minister. In turn, deputy prime
    minister Kelemen Hunor, the leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic
    Hungarians, said his party accepted the prime minister’s decision and that the
    coalition must go ahead. From the opposition, Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the
    Social Democratic Party, said Vlad Voiculescu’s dismissal came too late for
    many Romanians who lost their lives and ruined their health.
    Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, the leader of the Social-Democrat
    group in the Romanian Parliament, Alfred Simonis, said his party will withdraw
    the simple motion filed against the Health Minister following the latter’s
    dismissal.




    COVID-19
    IN ROMANIA – 4,076
    new COVID-19 infections have been reported in the last 24 hours in Romania, the
    group for strategic communication announced on Wednesday. Another 164 related
    fatalities have also been reported during the interval, and 1,521 patients are
    currently in intensive care. On the other hand, new criteria for the
    implementation of quarantine have been published in the Official Journal. The
    new system will keep track of infection rates based on a reference score grid.
    Quarantine may be imposed when large cities reach a score of 60 and small
    cities a score of 70. Some 50 towns and villages are currently in quarantine in
    Romania.




    COVID-19 IN THE WORLD –As many countries in Eastern Europe
    are faced with the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Bulgarian hotels and
    travel agencies are worried that more and more Romanians are cancelling their
    Easter bookings in the absence of clear rules for entering the country, while
    Israel’s tourism and health ministries are considering opening borders for
    groups of foreign tourists at the end of May, on certain conditions. In France,
    the government has decided to postpone the local elections because of the
    pandemic and in Austria, health minister Rudolf Anschober resigned due to
    exhaustion caused by the management of the Covid crisis.




    PROTESTS – Trade
    unions on Wednesday staged anti-government protests outside the government
    headquarters in Bucharest. They demand a rise in the minimum wage to a decent
    level, fair pensions, quality public services, unblocking collective
    bargaining, fair taxation and a fair application of the law. Trade unions say
    they are unhappy with the measures taken by the government and its refusal to
    engage in social dialogue and demand its resignation. The gendarmerie recalls
    that a maximum of 100 persons are allowed to take part in public demonstrations
    under the current coronavirus restrictions and have recommended protesters to
    respect the hygiene and physical distancing rules in place and wear facemasks.




    GYMNASTICS –Six Romanian gymnasts, three female
    and three male, are taking part in the European Artistic Gymnastics
    Championships hosted by Basel between 21st and 25th April, the Romanian
    Gymnastics Federation has announced. Romania is pursuing two goals at these
    championships: to have two more gymnasts qualified for the Olympic Games, one
    in the men’s and one in the women’s events, and win medals in the individual
    and team competitions. Only two Romanian gymnasts have so far booked their
    tickets for the Tokyo Olympics: Marian Drăgulescu, in the men’s vault competition,
    and Maria Holbură in the women’s all-around event. (C.M. & V.P.)

  • Romanian gymnastics makes a comeback

    Romanian gymnastics makes a comeback

    Gymnasts from Romania obtained 4 medals at the
    European Gymnastics Championships that took place in the Transylvanian city of
    Cluj Napoca over April 19th and 23rd. They were
    outperformed only by Russia, while Ukraine finished third in the rankings. This
    competition, the second to be hosted by Romania after 60 years, brought
    together 274 gymnasts from 37 countries, as well as 450 coaches, medical staff,
    referees and other officials.




    Two gold medals were won for Romania by veteran
    gymnast Marian Dragulescu in the floor contest and Catalina Ponor in the beam
    event. Marian also became silver medallist in the vault event, while Larisa
    Iordache stepped onto the third step of the podium in the beam competition.
    Shortly after his win Dragulescu said he was proud of becoming the Romanian
    gymnast with the largest number of medals of all time, with 31 medals.




    At almost 37 years of age, Dragulescu admitted
    the medal in the floor event was the most sought after in his career because he
    won it right in front of a Romanian public. We recall that Marian Dragulescu
    has won three Olympic medals (one silver and two bronze), ten medals in World
    Championships (eight gold and two silver) and 18 in European Championships (ten
    gold, six silver and two bronze). This remarkable gymnast only lacks the
    Olympic gold.




    At the age of 29, Catalina Ponor won the
    European title for the fifth time in the beam contest, breaking her own record
    of four continental wins. She has again obtained international acclaim in the
    beam competition, thirteen years from her first victory in Amsterdam. She had
    also qualified for the floor contest in Cluj but failed to make it to the
    competition’s next stage as her show lacked a compulsory element.




    Injuries forced 20-year-old Larisa Iordache to
    compete only in two apparatuses and it was also medical issues that had kept her
    off competitions in the past years. She failed to attend two editions of the
    European championships in 2015 and 2016 as well as the Olympics in Rio in 2016,
    where Romania’s gymnastics team failed to qualify for the first time since the
    1968 edition in Mexico. Larisa’s latest performance was at the European
    Championships in 2014 where she won three medals: gold in the floor event,
    silver in the beam and bronze in the vault contest.





    We recall that at the last year’s edition of the
    European Gymnastics Championships hosted by the Swiss city of Bern, Marian
    Dragulescu won two silver medals for Romania in the floor and vault events,
    while Catalina Ponor became bronze medallist in the floor and beam contests.

  • April 23, 2017 UPDATE

    April 23, 2017 UPDATE

    SPEECH — Romanian Crown Princess Margareta will deliver a speech before Parliament on April 26, marking the anniversary of 100 years since Iasi was named the capital of the Kingdom of Romania between 1916-1918 and the City of the Great Unification”. The event celebrates the adoption 100 years ago of the laws reforming the Romanian modern state, the agrarian law and the election law, both adopted by the Senate and the Deputies’ Assembly. According to a press release issued on Suday, political and legislative measures adopted by the Parliament that fled to Iasi during the Great War, are the expression of a concerted political effort on behalf of all the parties making up the Constituent Assembly, as expressed by King Ferdinand in his opening speech in the Parliament plenary session of December 15, 1917. We recall that after the Great War, all of Romania’s historical provinces were united under one single entity, the Kingdom of Romania.



    AVALANCHE — Saturday’s avalanche in Retezat Mountains killed two teenagers, 13-year-old Dor Geta Popescu and 14-year-old Erik Gulacsi, both professional climbers enrolled in a sports club in Brasov. The local mountain rescue service has warned against imminent avalanche risks. Dor Geta Popescu was the holder of six world titles and a European trophy. At 10 years of age she became the world’s youngest climber to summit Ararat, at an altitude of 5,000 meters. Erik Gulacsi last year was designated the youngest European climber to summit Aconcagua Peak in Argentina, at over 6,900 meters, the highest in America. The police is investigating the tragedy.



    ROMANIANS — Three Romanians from Constanta, eastern Romania, attended festivities marking 2770 years since the city was founded. Disguised as Dacians, the three reenacted battles led by Emperor Trajan in the Dacian-Roman wars on modern-day Romanian territory in 101-102 and 105-106 CE. After their defeat, the Dacians were Romanized, while only a few Dacian words still survive in Romanian, the only neo-Latin language in southeastern Europe. A chronicle of the Dacian-Roman wars is sculpted on the famous Trajan Column in Rome.



    SAINT GEORGE — Over a million Romanians celebrated their name day on Sunday, the feast day of Saint George, the first martyr of early Christianity. Saint George is also the patron saint of the Romanian Land Forces. Ceremonies were held in most barracks across the country, attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, local authorities, military on reserve status and war veterans.



    GYMNASTICS — Romanian athlete Catalina Ponor on Sunday grabbed gold in the beam final at the European Gymnastics Championships hosted by Cluj-Napoca, northwestern Romania. In the same event Larisa Iordache won bronze. Also on Sunday, Marian Dragulescu won silver in the men’s vault event, after winning gold in the floor final on Saturday. Cluj hosted the European Gymnastics Championships 60 years after the last edition was held in Romania. A total of 274 athletes from 37 countries took part in the event.



    TENNIS — Romania’s Fedcup team defeated Great Britain on home turf 3-2 in the playoffs for the Second World Group. On Sunday, Simona Halep defeated Johanna Konta of Great Britain, 6-1, 6-3 in the third rubber match while Irina Begu defeated Heather Watson. On Saturday, Halep won against Watson while Konta defeated Sorana Cirstea. We recall that Saturday’s match between Konta and Cirstea was interrupted due to an incident caused by Romanian coach Ilie Nastase, who was sent off after swearing at the umpire and verbally abusing Johanna Konta and the British coach. The ITF has launched an investigation (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • 21 April, 2017

    21 April, 2017

    Paris attack. Bucharest has
    joined the international community to condemn Thursday’s attack in France.
    Romania expressed solidarity with France and stood for more efficient
    prevention. In Paris, French president Francois Hollande today chaired an
    interministerial crisis group in the wake of the attack claimed by the Islamic
    State terrorist organisation. A policeman was killed and two others wounded by
    a man who opened fire on the Champs-Elysées. The attacker, a 39-year-old
    Belgian national called Karim Cheurfi, was shot dead by the security forces. He
    was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting at police officers
    in 2001 but got an early release in 2016. The French police also issued an
    arrest warrant for a second suspect. Tension is high after the Champs-Elysées
    attack ahead of the first round of the French presidential elections on Sunday.
    The four frontrunners cancelled their public appearances. Two radicalised young
    men were arrested three days ago in Marseilles while plotting an attack on
    behalf of the Islamic State. France has been in a state of emergency since
    2015, when 16 people were killed in attacks at the headquarters of the Charlie
    Hebdo magazine and at a Jewish store.




    Brexit. Romania is in favour of a unitary, coherent and fair strategy during the future negotiations on the UK’s
    exit from the European Union, said the Romanian minister delegate for European
    affairs Ana Birchall, who is on a working trip to Austria. According to a
    foreign ministry release, during talks with Austrian officials, Birchall also
    discussed the multiannual financial framework, migration and the Schengen area,
    the EU strategy for the Danube region, the Western Balkans, the Eastern
    Partnership and the need to consolidate cooperation in the run up to Austria’s
    taking over the EU rotating presidency in the second half of 2018, followed by
    Romania in the first half of 2019. The officials pointed out that Romania and
    Austria are opposed to the idea of a multi-speed European Union.
    Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs Michael Linhart also reiterated his
    country’s support for Romania’s entry into Schengen.




    Gymnastics. The Romanian gymnasts
    Larisa Iordache, Olivia Cimpian and Ioana Crisan have qualified for the beam,
    floor and individual all-round finals at the European Gymnastics Championships
    under way in Cluj Napoca, north-western Romania. Three times Olympic champion
    Catalina Ponor has made it to the beam and individual all-round finals. She
    failed to qualify for the floor final after the judges reviewed her score. 274
    gymnasts from 37 different countries, including 10 from Romania, are taking
    part in the competition. The Romanian women’s team roster features Olivia
    Cimpian, Ioana Crisan, Larisa Iordache and Catalina Ponor, while the men’s team
    roster features Marian Dragulescu, Cristian Bataga, Vlad Cotuna, Adelin
    Kotrong, Laurentiu Nistor and Andrei Ursache. Only one Romanian male gymnast
    has made it to the apparatus finals, namely Marian Dragulescu, who qualified
    for the floor and vault finals. The last time Romania hosted the European
    Gymnastics Championships was in 1957.


    Tennis. The
    Romanian women’s tennis team faces Britain in a Fed Cup World Group II play-off at
    home. The matches are held on Saturday and Sunday in the Black Sea resort of
    Mamaia. The Romanian team includes world no. 5 Simona Halep, world no. 33 Irina
    Camelia Begu, world no. 47 Monica Niculescu and world no. 61 Sorana Cirstea. The
    British team has two players in the top 100: world no. 10 Johanna Konta and
    world no. 72 Heather Watson. Romania has met Britain five times so far in the
    Fed Cup, winning four times.



  • April 18, 2015 UPDATE

    April 18, 2015 UPDATE

    The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis will make an official visit to Italy on April the 27th. Italy hosts the largest community of Romanians living abroad, according to official sources. The agenda of the visit includes talks with the Italian president Sergio Mattarella, with the Italian PM, Matteo Renzi, as well as a meeting with Romanians living in that country. Since taking over the office in December, President Iohannis has made official visits to France, Germany, Poland, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.



    Romania’s NATO membership and the partnership with the US must be consolidated, the president of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor said on Saturday. In his speech at the Union’s Convention, where he was re-elected as party president, Kelemen Hunor emphasised Romania’s geostrategic importance in the region and dismissed the statements of the Russian officials who criticised the hosting of American anti-missile system components. He also said Romania needs to absorb more European funds, to help develop each region. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania is the main political party representing the 1.5 million strong Hungarian community in Romania. A constant presence in post-communist Romania’s Parliament, the Union was also part of many successive governments, together with either right or left-wing parties.



    In Bucharest the Great Hall of the National Theatre was officially opened on Saturday night. The event marked the completion of revamping works and the complete opening of the building for the general public. This summer the seventh performance area of the modernised building, an outdoor amphitheatre, is also to be inaugurated. The revamping works on the National Theatre took four years and were funded by the Government and the Council of Europe Development Bank, with costs totalling around 65 million euros. More than 150 years old, the National Theatre in Bucharest is one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in Romania.



    Ireland is a reliable partner for Romania within the EU, says the Romanian Foreign Ministry, in a news release issued on Saturday on the celebration of 25 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. According to the Foreign Ministry, a key moment which confirmed the quality of the Romanian-Irish relations was Dublin’s decision to give free access to Romanian workers in the labour market, in July 2012, two years before the deadline for lifting employment restrictions in the EU. One of the most dynamic components of the bilateral relation with Ireland is, according to the news release, the cultural cooperation. This included the organisation, in October 2014, of the “Days of Romanian Culture in Dublin,” a large-scale event that showcased to the Irish public the main Romanian achievements in music, film, theatre, literature and arts in the past few years.



    On Sunday at the European Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier, France, the Romanians Marius Berbecar and Andrei Muntean will take part in the parallel bars final of the men’s competition, whereas in the women’s competition Romania will be represented by Andreea Munteanu in the beam and floor finals. At the end of the championships the president of the European Gymnastics Union, Georges Guelzec, will hand over the union’s colours to the 2017 host of the championships, Bucharest.

  • April 18, 2015

    April 18, 2015

    The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis will make an official visit to Italy on April the 27th. Italy hosts the largest community of Romanians living abroad, according to official sources. The agenda of the visit includes talks with the Italian president Sergio Mattarella, with the Italian PM, Matteo Renzi, as well as a meeting with Romanians living in that country. Since taking over the office in December, President Iohannis has made official visits to France, Germany, Poland, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.



    Celebrating the 25 years since establishment and amending the party statute and platform were the main topics on the second and last day of the Convention of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, held in the city of Cluj-Napoca in the north-west. On Friday, Kelemen Hunor was re-elected party president. According to the secretary general Péter Kovács, the Union intends to strengthen its relationship with the ethnic Hungarians in Romania and to restructure its message towards the young generation. On this occasion, the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis said the domestic politics must be based on professionalism and good governance, which should benefit all Romanian citizens, regardless of their ethnic background. In turn, PM Victor Ponta called on the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania to continue to promote political and inter-ethnic dialogue.



    In Bucharest the official opening of the Great Hall of the National Theatre is scheduled for Saturday night. The event marks the completion of revamping works and the complete opening of the building for the general public. This summer the seventh performance area of the modernised building, an outdoor amphitheatre, is also to be inaugurated. The revamping works on the National Theatre took four years and were funded by the Government and the Council of Europe Development Bank, with costs totalling around 65 million euros. More than 150 years old, the National Theatre in Bucharest is one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in Romania.



    Two major international military exercises take place in Romania, under NATO command. In the south-east of the country Wind Spring 2015 is under way, which brings together over 2200 troops from Romania, the US, UK and the Republic of Moldova. Until April the 30th, they will be practicing operational planning, live fire and complex tactical situation solving. Câmpia Turzii, in the north-west, is also hosting joint military exercises involving over 350 American troops and nearly 300 Romanian military. The goal is to ensure regional stability and security, in the current security context in NATO’s eastern flank.



    Today and tomorrow the city of Montreal, in Canada, is hosting the World Group playoffs of the Fed Cup women’s competition, between the teams of Canada and Romania. The Romanian players are Irina-Camelia Begu, Alexandra Dulgheru, Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru. The best Romanian tennis player at the moment, world no. 3 Simona Halep, will not be part of the team. Canada’s team on the other hand includes world no. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, alongside Sharon Fichmann, Gabriela Dabrowski and Françoise Abanda. Romania and Canada played against each other in the Fed Cup only once before, in 1983, in Zurich, Switzerland.



    The European Gymnastics Championships continue in Montpellier, France. The Romanians Marius Berbecar and Andrei Muntean will take part in the parallel bars final of the men’s competition, whereas in the women’s competition Romania will be represented by Andreea Munteanu in the beam and floor events. On Friday in the all-around finals, the Romanian gymnasts Laura Jurca and Diana Bulimar ranked 7th and 10th respectively. The gold medallist was Swiss Giulia Steingruber, who outperformed Russian Maria Harenkova and British Elissa Downie. At the end of the championships the president of the European Gymnastics Union, Georges Guelzec, will hand over the union’s colours to the 2017 host of the championships, Bucharest.