One leg before the end of 2022 Rugby Europe
Championship, Romania still has chances to qualify into next year’s World Cup. On
Saturday, the national team lost in Bucharest, 23 – 26 to Georgia, the winner
of the competition and already qualified to the World Cup. Second-ranking in
the overall standings for 2021 and 2022, Spain defeated Portugal in Madrid on
Sunday, 33-28, and also qualified to the 2023 World Cup, after a 23-year long
absence. Romania, which is ranking 4th in the overall standings,
still has a match to play on March 19, away from home, against the Netherlands.
If it wins, Romania will leave behind Portugal, which is currently 3rd-placed
but without any more matches to play. The 3rd place secures presence
in the playoffs scheduled for November. Teams from Europe, Africa, the Americas
and Asia / Pacific will play in a round-robin scheduling, with the winner
getting the last ticket to the World Cup.
The Romanian athlete Alexandru Novac won the gold in
the javelin event of the European Throwing Cup held in Leiria, Portugal. The Romanian
athlete’s best throw was 80.49 m and was his best performance this season. Last
year in the Tokyo Olympics, Novac came out 12th.
On Tuesday, Simona Halep and Sorana Cîrstea will play
against each other in the round of 16 of the Indian Wells tournament. In
the 3rd round on Sunday, Halep, seed no. 24, defeated the American player
Cori Gauff 6-3, 6-4. Sorana Cîrstea, seed no. 26, won 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 against Anna
Kalinskaya of Russia.
This weekend
matches were played in the first leg of the play-off / play-out stage of the
Romanian Football League 1. In the play-off, Universitatea Craiova Friday beat FC
Argeș at home, 3-0. On Saturday, defending champions CFR Cluj won at home
against FC Voluntari, 3-1. The last game, FCSB vs. Farul Constanța, was scheduled
for Monday. Cluj top the standings at this point with 41 points, followed by
FCSB, with 31, and Universitatea Craiova, with 30.
In
the play-out group, on Friday UTA Arad defeated Academica Clinceni 3-0. On Saturday
Chindia Târgoviște and FC U Craiova drew, 0-0, and on Sunday Sepsi Sfântu
Gheorghe won 3-1 against CS Mioveni, while Rapid beat Dinamo with the same
score. Four teams are at the top of the table with 24 points each: UTA, Rapid,
Sepsi and FC Botoșani. (A.M.P.)