The headline-hitting piece of news last week was the interruption of
the national basketball championships. According to Agerpres news agency, the
Romanian Basketball Federation’s steering committee officially decided the cancellation of the domestic championship, with no team being granted the title and
maintaining the rankings that were in place on March 8, 2020.
After the last fixture in the National’ men’s League,
held on March 9, 2020, U-BT Cluj Napoca was at the top of the table, followed
by CSM CSU Oradea. Both teams have the same number of points, 33. In the Women’s
League, holders Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe were at the top of the table with 27 points,
followed by vice-champion team CSM Satu Mare, with 24 points. Also, the
Romanian Basketball Federation’s managing board recommended that clubs should
negotiate the amicable termination of all the contracts concluded with the
participants in the competition activity, in a bid to avoid further financial litigation.
Also in basketball, we should note that the French newspaper
L’Equipe dedicated an article to Romanian-born player Sabrina Ionescu. As of
this season, Sabrina will be signed up by New York Liberty, a team in the WNBA
Professional Basketball League. Sabrina Ionescu was born in California, into a
family of Romanian migrants. She played in the US university championship team
Oregon Ducks, with sensational results. Sabrina Ionescu became the first university
championship player to have accumulated 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000
assists.
In news from men’s handball, Romania’s title holders Dinamo
Bucureşti has made public the fact that the club has transferred 36-year old
international player Valentin Ghionea, a helf-handed basketball player who is
fresh from a two-year stint with Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon. In the history of
the Champions League, Ghionea boasts the greatest number of caps, as well as
the greatest number of goals scored. For no less than 13 competition seasons,
among the top-flight teams Ghionea was signed up by, there are Dinamo Bucharest,
Pick Szeged, HCM Constanţa, Wisla Plock and Sporting Lisbon. All told, Valentin
Ghionea scored 444 goals.
Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu will take part in
a teams’ competition, in the US town of Charleston, in South Carolina. Scheduled
to kick off on June 23, the competition will be held behind closed doors, given
the COVID-19 pandemic, the international press writes. The Romanian-born
Canadian tennis player will be joined by 15 other players, most of whom are
Americans.
(Translation by Eugen Nasta)