The Romanian
women’s handball team had a perfect start at the European Championship underway
in France. Our team won the first two games and is now top of the tables in
Group D, having already secured qualification to the main group phase. In the
first game, last Saturday, Romania defeated the Czech Republic 31-28, thus
making amends for their loss last year, when the Czech Republic knocked out
Romania in the round of 16 at the World Cup. On Monday, Romania defeated
Germany 29-24. The game also marked a new record for our team captain, Cristina
Neagu. With five goals scored, she has now reached a total of 206 goals in
editions of the European Championship, an all-time high for this competition.
Neagu thus managed to outperform Agnes Farkas of Hungary, who withdrew from
international competitions, who ranked first with 205 goals. Ranking third was
Germany’s Grit Jurack, herself a retired player, with 194 goals.
Cristina Neagu
was born in Bucharest, on August 26, 1988. She made her debut at a local sport
club. As a youth player, she was several times designated best player in the
world, starting 2005, the year when Romania won silver at the European Youth
Championships in Austria. In 2006, as a senior player, she started playing for
Rulmentul Brasov, then she was signed by Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea. Then followed
several injuries for Cristina Neagu, which kept the player away from the field
for two years. After Oltchim was disbanded, Neagu transferred to Buducnost
Podgorica in Montenegro, a team with which she won the Champions League in
2015. Since 2017 she has been playing for CSM Bucharest.
Her track record
for the national squad includes a bronze medal at the European Championships in
Denmark and Norway in 2010 and another bronze medal at the World Cup in Brazil
in 2015. In 2010, 2015 and 2016 she was designated best player in the world by
the International Handball Federation. Neagu thus became the first handballer
in the world to win the award three times.
(Translated by V. Palcu)