The year’s leading women’s handball
competition is scheduled in November 2022. We’re speaking about the European Championship,
to be jointly hosted by three former Yugoslavia states, Slovenia, North Macedonia
and Montenegro. Slovenia’s Celje and Ljubljana will be hosting Group A and Group
B fixtures. North Macedonia’s Skopje will play host to fixtures in Group C,
which includes Romania, alongside the teams of France, the Low Countries and
North Macedonia. Games will be played on the Boris Trajkovski arena in Skopje. Group D games are scheduled in Podgorica.
The competition will kick-start on November 4. Romania’s debut game
is scheduled on November 5, when our national squad takes on the Low Countries
team. Then Romania takes on
France, on November 7, while on Wednesday, November 9, Romania goes against host
team, North Macedonia. The fist three teams, in descending order, advance to
the competition’s main group stage. Most likely, and according to their most
recent excellent run, France and the Low Countries are the favorites to
winning the top and the runner-up position in Group C, while Romania will fight
will North Macedonia for the 3rd position in the group. A daunting task ahead,
for the Romanians. The Skopje Arena has a seating capacity for up to 7,000 fans, while
the Macedonian supporters will go at all lengths so that their national team
can win.
Last week’s Carpati
Trophy in Bistritsa counted as the last leg as part of Romanian national squad’s
centralized preparation stage ahead of the upcoming European competition. For
the national team, it was the first tournament with head-coach Florentin Pera at
the helm.
Romanian national
squad’s debut match against Austria ended in a 32-all draw. Then the team’s defensive
game mechanisms were perfected and in the following fixtures it worked for the Romanian
squad’s greater good. Therefore, Romania had no problem defeating Serbia, 26-20.
In the competition’s last confrontation, Romania defeated Spain, 25-23, and
secured the top position according to the final rankings. In the game against
Spain, keeper Iulia Dumanska and inside left Sorina
Grozav compelled recognition. Grozav replaced Cristina Neagu, who was again
the national’s team’s best handballer. Apart from Sorina Grozav, Pera threw
several handballers of the younger generation into the game, and it appears
that the collaboration between veterans and the younger handballers went just
about fine. However, we’re still a month away from the European Championships,
an eventful month with European Cups matches on schedule, so we keep our fingers
crossed for the handballers and their health. (EN)