Radio România Internațional

Tag: tournament

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    A WTA 125 women’s tennis tournament was held in Bolivia, Santa Cruz. The vent had 115,000 USD up for grabs. The winner was a Romanian, Anca Todoni.

    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Anca the Athlete of the week.

    In Bolivia, Anca did not lose one single set. She was 6th-seeded at the tournament. In the first round, Todoni defeated Argentinian Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi, 6-3, 6-2. In the round of 16, Anca Todoni faced Canada’s Carson Branstine, who pulled out of competition when the score was 6-nil, 3-nil. Then in the quarterfinals, Todoni defeated 2nd seeded Chloe Pacquet of France, 6-3, 6-nil.

    On Saturday in the semi-final, Anca Todoni outclassed Latvia’s Darija Semenistaja, 6-nil, 6-1. On Sunday, Anca, in the final defeated Colombia’s Emiliana Arango, 7-6, 6-nil. Anca’s match against her south-American opponent was the most difficult one in Santa Cruz.

    However, Todoni secured her win in one hour and 34 minutes of play, despite her being outclassed in the first set, 2-nil and 3-1. Todoni was rewarded with 15,000 USD and granted 125 WTA points, skipping 21 positions according to world rankings and being 117th-placed.

    On October 10, 2024, Anca Todoni turned 21st. She was born in Timisoara. She made her debut as a pro in 2020, in an ITF tournament in Canada. In 2022 Anca won her first ITF tournament in Turkey’s Antalya, in the final outclassing a fellow Romanian, Patricia Tig. In 2024, Anca Todoni succeeded to win her first WTA 125 tournament, in June, in Bari, Italy. In the semifinal, Todoni defeated Hungarian opponent Panna Udvardy, 6-4, 6-nil. Then in Wimbledon, Anca Todoni reached as far as the second round. According to the world rankings, in August 2024 she reached her career-best so far, being 115th-placed.

  • Sports Flash

    Sports Flash

     

    Only one Romanian player is still in the competition at the Miami WTA 1000 women’s tennis tournament. Qualified straight into the second round, seed no. 19 Sorana Cîrstea is set to play against Sloane Stephens (US). The Romanian athletes who played in the first round were outperformed as early as on Tuesday. Simona Halep was defeated by Paula Badosa (Spain), 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Ana Bogdan lost 2-6, 4-6 to Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic), and Jaqueline Cristian was outperformed by France’s Diane Parry, 7-6, 6-2.

     

    At the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Julia Sauter, representing Romania, failed to qualify for the free programme stage, after she came out 27th in the short programme with 52.52 points. Only the top 24 scorers moved up into the next stage. The highest score, 76.98 points, was won by Loena Hendrickx (Belgium), followed by Isabeau Levito (US) and by Haein Lee (South Korea).

     

    On Friday, Romania’s national football team play against Northern Ireland at the National Arena in Bucharest, in the first friendly this spring. The match is part of Romania’s training programme for the European Championships hosted by Germany this summer.

     

    Ahead of the game, manager Edward Iordănescu said he was rather concerned with the players who do not get to play a lot in their club teams abroad. Several Romanian players have been recently transferred to top-level European clubs, such as Radu Drăgușin to Tottenham, and the goalie Horațiu Moldovan to Atletico Madrid, but they are far from proving their worth in the new teams.

     

    Iordănescu emphasised that he relied on continuity and consistency, and explained he could not make dramatic changes in line-up just one step before the final tournament. After the match against Northern Ireland, Romania’s team will travel to Spain to play another friendly in Madrid on Tuesday against Columbia. Prior to the EURO, Romania will also play 2 friendly matches in Bucharest, on 4 June against Bulgaria, and on the 8 June against Liechtenstein. (AMP)

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    Romanian women’s table tennis team on Wednesday has advanced to the quarterfinals as part of the World teams Championships in Seoul and the Olympic Games in Paris. In the round of 16, Romania’s Bernadette Szőcs, Elizabeta Samara and Adina Diaconu defeated Egypt, 3-nil

     

    We recall Romania came in 5th at the 2014 edition of the World Championships in Japan, and at the World Championships in Sweden, in 2018. Romanian table tennis team’s most recent performance in South Korea has raised to 76 the number of athletes who have qualified to the Olympic Games in Paris, according to the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, quoted by Agerpres. Romania’s men’s table tennis team was unable to go past the round of 16 in South Korea, having sustained a nil-3 defeat by China.

     

    Results in fixtures counting towards the Romanian Women’s National Handball League’s 17th round have been predictable, with a win-all record for the favorite teams. Holders CSM Bucharest defeated Minaur Baia Mare, 33 – 28. Vice-champions Rapid Bucharest defeated Dacia Mioveni, 27-22. In their match against Handbal Club Zalău, Gloria Bistriţa grabbed a 28-23 win. The other Romanian team to have made it to the Europa League’s quarterfinals, Dunărea Brăila, outclassed Magura Cisnadie, 25 – 21. CSM Bucharest are still at the top of the as-it-stands table, being 6 points clear of 2nd and 3rd-placed teams, Rapid Bucharest and Gloria Bistritsa, respectively.

     

    In the National Women’s National Basketball league on Wednesday. Baschet Arad grabbed a 63 – 47 home win against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. In the wake of a lackluster European run, Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe has yet against put on a disappointing performance, this time in the domestic championship, with a negative record of scored points and with the second defeat in their last three domestic championship fixtures.

     

    In April this year, Bucharest will play host to an ATP 250 tennis tournament. After a eight-year gap, Ţiriac Open will be resumed in Romania’s capital city: the event will have 580 thousand USD in prize money. Matches will be played on a clay court and the winner will be granted 250 ATP points. The first top-flight tennis player who has confirmed his participation to the Tiriac Open was the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, a former WTA no 10.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    The most important tennis tournament organized in
    Romania annually is the Transylvania Open, held in Cluj-Napoca last week. The
    tournament is part of the WTA 250 circuit. In 2024, up for grabs were 267
    thousand dollars. The matches we played on hard court and were hosted by the BT
    Arena, Romania’s largest sports hall with a seating capacity of 10,000.


    The main draw included seeded competitors that
    were placed among the world’s top 100 tennis players, best -placed of them
    being WTA 43rd tennis player, the Dutch Arantxa Rus and 44th-placed,
    Germany’s Tatjana Maria. Quite surprisingly, the winner of the Transylvania
    Open wasn’t one of the seeded players, but WTA 78th-placed tennis
    player Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Former WTA number 1
    player, in Cluj-Napoca, Pliskova won her first WTA tournament after a four-year
    gap, or thereabouts. In the final, Pliskova outclassed Ana Bogdan, 6-4, 6-3.


    Of the Romanian tennis players representing
    Romanian in the Transylvania Open, Ana Bogdan had the most satisfactory run.


    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to
    designate Ana Bogdan the Athlete of the week.


    Ana was that close to her first win in an
    upper-echelon WTA tournament, after a very good run. Ana Bogdan first defeated Alicija
    Parks, of the United States, then she overpowered Russia’s Erika Andreeva, who came
    straight from the qualifiers. Ana also defeated top-seeded opponent, Arantxa
    Rus, while in the semifinals she outclassed Jaqueline Cristian. However, after
    two exhausting confrontations, in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals, Ana
    Bogdan was defeated by Karolina Pliskova.


    Ana Bogdan was born on November 25, 1992, in Sinaia. She turned pro in
    2007. In 2009, she was 2nd-placed according to juniors’ world
    rankings. According to
    the WTA rankings, until 2018, Ana Bogdan climbed slowly but constantly. She then
    remained close to the 100th position, yet she succeeded to climb up, in 2022
    and 2023. The final she played in Cluj-Napoca secured Ana Bogdan 11 notches up,
    from the 65th to the 54th place. She is the second
    Romanian occupying a position according to the world rankings, after Sorana
    Cirstea, who is 22nd-placed.


  • Sports flash


    Romanias national water polo team on Wednesday grabbed a 25-3 win against Kazakhstan, in a confrontation counting towards the World Swimming Championship in Qatar. Having been defeated by Hungary in their debut game, 8-15, as part of Group D, the Romanian national team has only one pending game, this coming Fridays match against Italy. The Romanians have already booked the 3rd place according to the group table, also securing their participation to the quarterfinals play-offs. Group winners play straight in the quarterfinals, 2nd and 3rd-placed teams compete in the quarterfinals play-offs, while bottom of the table teams play for the 13-16 positions.




    Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea has advanced to the quarterfinals as part of the WTA 500 tournament in Abu Dhabi, an event with 922, 573 USD in prize money. In the tournaments round of 16 this past Wednesday, Cirstea defeated Greek challenger Maria Sakkari, 6-1, 6-1. Sorana has thus secured 24,910 USD and was granted 108 WTA points. In the quarterfinals, Cirstea goes against Russian opponent Daria Kasatkina.




    In news from mens tennis, The Romanian-Austrian pair made of Victor Vlad Cornea and Philipp Oswald has advanced to the mens doubles quarterfinals as part of the ATP 25O tournament hosted by Cordoba, in Argentina, an event with 562, 345 USD in prize money. This past Wednesday, Cornea and Oswald secured a 7-6, 7-5 win against the all-Argentinean pair made of Guido Andreozzi and Guillermo Duran.




    Romanian mens basketball team U-BT Cluj Napoca have advanced to the EuroCups quarterfinals. With 26 points, U-BT Cluj Napoca are 2nd placed according to Group Bs final rankings. French team Bourg-en-Bresse are at the top of the table, while 3rd-placed are Spanish team Gran Canaria, the winner of the EuroCup in 2023. In the last fixture as part of the group stage, U-BT Cluj Napoca sustained an 87-92 defeat by Lithuanian opponents Panevezys Lietkabelis.




    In news from womens handball, Rapid Bucharest have won the Womens National Handball Leagues derby as on Wednesday, Rapid grabbed a 30-28 win against CSM Bucharest. For the latter team, it was the first defeat in the ongoing edition of the domestic championship. Rapids most efficient scorer was the French Orlane Kanor, with 7 goals scored, while for CSM Cristina Neagu scored 6 goals. CSM Bucharest are still at the top of the as-it-stands table, being 6 points clear of runner up team Rapid and 3rd-placed Gloria Bistrita.




  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    The year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian tennis Open, has
    now reached the quarterfinal stage. A couple of seeded competitors, among whom
    the world’s number one tennis player, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, have already left
    the competition.


    The Romanian participants, in the singles but also in the double’s events
    have already been eliminated from the competition’s very first week. The last Romanian
    to have stepped onto the tennis court was Victor Cornea, who this past Saturday was defeated
    in the Open’s men’s doubles event, where he paired up with India’s Nsriram
    Balaji. Cornea and Balaji were defeated by the 10th-seeded Salvadorian-Croatian
    pair made of Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic, 3-6, 3-6. 69th-placed according to
    the world’s doubles rankings, Victor Cornea participated for the third time in
    a Grand Slam tournament. We recall that in 2023 Cornea took part in Roland
    Garros and the US Open. In the recently-held edition of the Australian Open, in
    the first round Victor Cornea and Nsriram Balaji defeated the all-Italian pair made of
    Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellegrino, 6-3, 6-4. The Romanian-Indian pair has thus
    secured a cheque of 53, 000 Australian Dollars. Since 2021, Victor Cornea was the first
    Romanian player to have been included in the men’s event main draw in a Grand
    Slam tournament. The last such Romanian had been Horia Tecău, who retired in
    2022. We recall that, jointly with the German Kevin Krawietz, Tecau secured his
    last Grand Slam wins at the 2021 edition of the Australian Open.


    In 2024
    in Melbourne, the last Romanian to have proved her mettle in the women’s doubles
    was Ana Bogdan. In the second round, Bogdan and the Spanish Slovak-born Rebeka
    Masarova sustained a 3-6, 1-6 defeat by the 6th-seeded American-Japanese
    pair made of Desirae Krawczyk and Ena Shibahara.

    In the women’s singles, no Romanian
    tennis player was could go past the first round. The Romanian tennis is emphatically
    deprived of the presence of Simona Halep. Former WTA, number one tennis player still
    feels the pinch of her suspension, following doping charges. Halep awaits the
    retrial of her case by Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, in the first
    decade of February 2024.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    Attention-grabbing in International women’s tennis last week was the GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun. Because of the bad weather conditions, the competition
    came to a close as late as Monday, with Polish Iga Swiantek emerging as winner.
    However, the international calendar has other tournaments on schedule, not so important
    events, such as the ITF tournament hosted by the Greek city of Heraklion on the Island of Crete, an event with 40,000 USD in prize money. Of the Romanian women
    tennis players taking part in the competition, the best was WTA 307th-placed,
    37-year-old Cristina Dinu, who reached as far as the semi-finals. However, Dinu
    was defeated by WTA 109th-palced tennis player and top-seeded in Heraklion,
    Dianne Parry of France, 6-3,
    7-6. Irina Bara’s performance in
    the women’s doubles event was above par since in the final, Irina and Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic outclassed the Romanian-Greek
    pair made of Oana Gavrilă and Sapfo Sakellaridi, 3-6, 7-6, 10-8.

    Reason enough
    for Radio Romania International to designate Irina Bara the Athlete of the
    Week.


    Irina Bara was born on March 18, 1995,
    in the town of Ştei, in western Romania. It was not until 2015 that she made
    her debut on the main draw of a WTA tournament when she paired up with Mihaela
    Buzarnescu in the women’s doubles event as part of the tournament hosted by Romania’s capital city, Bucharest. Irina’s progress has been a constant one ever since, as in May, 2019 she saw a
    record-high in terms of WTA rankings, being 56th-placed. According
    to the as-it-stands WTA women’s doubles table, Irina Bara is 120th-placed. In
    2021, Irina won the women’s doubles final as part of the WTA tournament in Cluj-Napoca,
    jointly with Georgian tennis player Ekaterine Gorgodze. Irina Bara’s career-best
    in women’s singles occurred in 2020 when she reached as far as the third round, in the Australian Open and Roland Garros. At present, Irina Bara is 173rd-placed, according to the WTA rankings.


    This week, Irina Bara is among the
    tennis players summoned by Romanian team’s non-playing captain Horia Tecău, for
    the match against Serbia. The Billie
    Jean King Cup confrontation will be hosted by an indoor clay court in Kraljevo.
    Also part of the team are Jaqueline Cristian, Gabriela Ruse, Anca Todoni and Monica Niculescu. The
    winning side will prove its mettle in the qualifiers for the Billie Jean King
    Cup’s final tournament.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club


    The World Rugby Cup has now reached its final stage. In Paris on Saturday, the grand finale will see New Zealand facing South Africa. Both teams have had an unassuming start in the competition, with defeats in the group stage. New Zealand was defeated by France, while South Africa was defeated by Ireland. However, progress was increasingly visible for both teams, since in the quarterfinals, South Africa defeated host team France, while New Zealand defeated defending world champions Ireland.



    In the group stage, we had the chance to watch South Africa play, that including a match against Romania. The “Springboks” trounced Romania, 76-nil, causing the second defeat for our national team at the 2023 edition of the World Cup. We recall Romania was given a most serious hiding in their debut game, being defeated by Ireland, 8-82. The defeat was even more serious in the game against Scotland, nil-84. The only match where Romania mattered a little bit was the fixture against Tonga, a game they lost anyway, 24-45. However, we could see a lot of determination among the Romanian players, given that, quite unlike the previous confrontations, the game against Tonga was not entirely hopeless. Eugen Apjoks trainees succeeded three fine tries, through Cristi Boboc, Florin Surugiu and Marius Simionescu.



    In the wake of Romanias dismal run in France, rugby fans could see for themselves how far Romania was from earning a place in the first echelon at world level. We even wonder if we can claim a position among the worlds second-tier teams, where such line-ups as those of Portugal, Georgia or Fiji have had a good run at the World Cup 2023. For these countries, on Wednesday, World Rugby broke the news.



    Beginning with the 2027 edition of the World Cup in Australia, the final tournament will include 27 teams. In theory, Romania still stands a chance to yet again prove its mettle at the World Cup, as our national squad is 20th placed according to the as-it-stands table at world level. World Rugby has also ruled the setting up of Nations League, a competition due to kick off beginning 2026. The Nations League will have two divisions with twelve teams each. The first division will be made of the worlds top ten national teams and two guest national teams. Fixtures are scheduled in July and November, replacing the previous tournament or the test matches that were usually held in July and November. According to World Rugby, changes have been made in a bid to enable weaker teams to play top-flight squads more often.




  • Sports weekend

    Romania’s national football team in Bucharest
    on Sunday face the team of Andorra. The Group I fixture counts towards the
    preliminaries of the European Championship in 2024. A sanction was placed against
    the Romanian Football Federation as of late because of the stands incidents that
    occurred during Romania’s match against Kosovo, so the match against Andorra will
    be played in an empty stadium. Notwithstanding, children younger than 14 will
    be allowed to watch the game.


    In Budapest
    on Thursday, Romania’s match against Belarus ended in a blank draw. On home turf, Andorra sustained a nil-3 defeat by
    Kosovo. Israel’s upcoming home game against Switzerland was postponed to November 15. Switzerland
    is at the top pf the table, with 15 points. Romania and Israel follow suit,
    with 13 and 11 points, respectively. With 7 points on their record sheet,
    Kosovo are 4th-placed. Belarus are 5th-place, with 5
    points, while Andorra are at the bottom of the table, with 2 points. Switzerland
    and Israel have each played 6 fixtures so far, while the other teams, 7. Advancing
    to the European Championships’ final tournament are the first two teams in
    descending order.


    Romania’ s women’s handball team this coming Saturday take on Greece,
    away from home, in a Group 1 fixture counting towards the European Championship
    preliminaries 2024. In Mioveni on Wednesday, Cristina Neagu and her teammates trounced
    Bosnia and Herzegovina, 49 la 17. Also in Group I, in Karlovac, Croatia
    defeated Greece, 32 – 22. 24 teams will take part in the final tournament, that
    is the first two teams in descending order in the 8 qualifying groups, plus
    the best four 3rd-placed teams. Host teams, that is Austria, Hungary
    and Switzerland, qualify straight to the final tournament, and so does defending
    champion Norway.


    In Romania’s capital city on Sunday, the Bucharest International
    Marathon is held. Apart from the main race, other asphalt-running races are
    staged. We recall the first edition of Bucharest International Marathon was
    held 15 years ago.

  • Athlete of the Week

    Athlete of the Week

    Romania now boasts three athletes among the world’s first 100 tennis
    players. The best ranking at present is Sorana Cirstea, currently on the 26th
    position, followed by Ana Bogdan who comes 61st and Irina Begu on
    the 66th position. Sorana has gone down a notch since last week and
    Irina five whereas Bogdan has gone up ten positions thanks to her winning of
    the WTA 125 tournament in Parma, a performance, which also brought her the
    Athlete of the Week title granted weekly to the best Romanian performance by
    our radio station.




    Ana Bogdan last year stopped in the semifinals of the Parma Ladies Open
    but this edition was second-seeded. She defeated Spanish Marina Bassols Ribera
    in the first round 6-1, 7-5, then Ukrainian Katarina Zavatska in three sets,
    4-6, 6-2, 6-4. She also clinched a three-set win against her compatriot
    Jaqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the quarter-finals. In the semifinals, the
    Romanian managed to outperform Hungarian challenger Anna Bondar 6-3, 6-4 in a match
    that lasted two hours and 40 minutes, the longest she played in Parma. The
    Romanian eventually managed to secure a 7-5, 6-1 victory against Anna Karolina
    Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the finals.




    Ana Bogdan was born on November 25th 1992 in Sinaia, southern
    Romania, and turned professional in 2007. Two years later she went second in
    the world junior ranking. She made constant headway in the WTA ranking until
    2008. She stayed around the 100th position for a while but in 2022
    and 2023 she succeeded in getting higher into the ranking. In July this year
    she occupied the 39th position, the best in her career so far and
    she’s still waiting for her first WTA title. She has so far achieved three WTA
    125 titles, in Iasi in 2022 and 2023 and now in Parma.




    (bill)

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    Two major women’s tennis tournaments were held
    last week, according to the professional circuit calendar. Both events were
    held on hard court. Romanian tennis players competed in both tournaments and their
    run was excellent. In the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Prague, an event with 260
    thousand USD in prize money, Jaqueline Cristian reached as far as the semifinals
    of the women’s singles, where she sustained a hard-fought defeat by Japan’s Nao
    Hibino. As part of a WTA 500 tournament in Washington, an event with 780 thousand
    USD up for grabs, Monica Niculescu, pairing up with Alexa Guarachi of Chile, reached
    as far as the women’s doubles finals. Niculescu and Guarachi were defeated by
    the German-Russian pair made of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva.

    We were spoiled
    for choice, since both Jaqueline and Monica equally deserved to be the Athlete of
    the week. However, the tournament in Washington was a little bit more difficult
    than the one in Prague, not to mention the fact that Monica Niculescu was closer
    to winning the tournament, so Radio Romania International designated Niculescu
    the Athlete of the Week.


    Monica was born in Slatina on September 25,
    1987.S he has been living in Bucharest since she was four. Monica took up tennis
    at the age of five and has been a pro since 2002. Her career-best according to
    the women’s singles rankings occurred in February 2012 when she was 28th-placed.
    Niculescu won three WTA singles tournaments, in 2013, in Brazil’s Florianopolis, in Guangzhou, China, in 2014 and in Luxembourg in 2016.


    Monica Niculescu’s career in women’s doubles was
    much richer. She won 10 WTA tournaments. We recall that in 2009, pairing up with
    Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova, Niculescu won the tournament in Budapest. Monica was
    best-placed according to the WTA women’s doubles rankings in April 2011, when she
    climbed up to the 11th position.


    Early in 2018, Monica Niculescu advanced to the
    quarterfinals of the Hobart tournament jointly with British tennis player Alicia
    Barnett. Then in the Australian Open she paired up with Swiss Viktorija
    Golubic with whom she reached as far as the round of 16. The final of the
    Washington tournament was the second Monica played in 2023, after the final in
    Bad Homburg, when she sustained a defeat alongside Japan’s Eri Hozumi. Monica Niculescu is 28th-placed according to the
    as-it-stands WTA women’s doubles rankings.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    Athlete Alina Rotaru has qualified to the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games in Paris. At the Inneringer Weitsprung Meeting in Germany, a contest won by the Romanian, Alina met the long-jump set standard, with a jump of 6 meters and 69 centimeters, a personal record for Alina Rotaru. With a jump of 6 meters and 84 centimeters, stepping onto the second step of the podium was a German athlete, Maryse Luzolo, while stepping onto the third step of the podium was another German athlete, Laura Raquel Müller, with 6 meters and 49 de centimeters. Alina Rotaru is the sixth Romanian athlete to have qualified to the Paris Olympics. Rotaru thus joined Andrea Miklos in the 400m category, Marathon runner Delvine Meringor, swimmers David Popovici and Vlad Stancu, as well as pugilist Lăcrămioara Perijoc.



    In news from women’s handball, this past Wednesday Romanian title holders CSM Bucharest defeated Universitatea Craiova, 35-25, in a friendly game hosted by the Multi-Purpose Sports Hall in Bucharest. With five goals scored, CSM’s most efficient player was Alexandra Dindiligan. Romania’s vice-champion team, Rapid Bucharest, takes part in a friendly tournament in Denmark. In their debut game, Rapid sustained a 36-39 defeat by Danish opponents Ikast Håndbold and were yet again defeated by German team Bietigheim, 22-31. On Friday, Rapid go against French team Metz Handball.



    As part of the WTA 500 tennis tournament in Washington, an event with 780 thousand USD in prize money all told, the best-placed Romanian according to the WTA rankings, 32nd, Sorana Cirstea, was unable to move past the tournament’s round of 16. Cirstea sustained a 1-6, 3-6 defeat by WTA 18th placed, Russian opponent Lyudmila Samsonova. Cirstea has booked a place among the tournament’s top 16 players, which earned her a cheque worth 11, 600 USD and 55 WTA points. In the women’s doubles, pairing up with Chilean Alexa Guarachi, Monica Niculescu has qualified to the quarterfinals. In the round of 16, Niculescu and Guarachi defeated the Belarus-Brazilian pair made of Lidia Morozova and Ingrid Gamarra Martins, 7-6, 7-5. Monica Niculescu and her Brazilian partner received a cheque worth 7.200 USD and were granted 100 WTA points in women’s doubles. We recall in 2016 Monica Niculescu won the women’s doubles version of the tournament in Washington, pairing up with Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.


  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week


    The TWA 125 BCR Iasi Open is the most important tennis competition scheduled in eastern Romania. The event took place last week
    and had 100 thousand Euro in prize money. Among the seeded competitors were
    four of the world’s top 100 women tennis players. Irina Begu was top-seeded. Second-seeded
    was the winner of the Iasi tournament’s 2022 edition, Ana Bogdan.


    Begu and Bogdan were pitted against one another
    in the final which Ana Bogdan won, 6-2, 6-3, this past Sunday. Reason enough
    for Radio Romania International to designate Ana Bogdan the Athlete of the
    week.


    Ana had a rather unassuming debut in the Iasi tournament. In the first
    round, it took Ana Bogdan two hours and 21 minutes of play to outclass WTA 210th-placed,
    19-year-old Barbora Palicová
    of the Czech Republic. Bogdan lost the first set, 2-6, managed a hard-fought
    win in the second, 7-5, and had no problem winning the third set, 6-1. Ana
    Bogdan’s round-of-last-16 confrontation was not easy either. It took Ana two
    hours and 17 minutes of play to defeat WTA 433rd, 32-year-old Conny Perrin of Switzerland, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. In the quarterfinals, Ana Bogdan was pitted against another Swiss opponent, 5th-seded in
    Iasi, WTA 131st, 22-year-old Simona Waltert. The Romanian had no problem
    defeating Waltert, 6-nil, 6-4. Ana Bogdan’s longest match was the semifinal
    confrontation against WTA 166, 26-year-old Raluka Serban, a Romanian tennis player
    competing for Cyprus. It took Bogdan two hours and 42 minutes to secure 6-3,
    4-6, 6-3 win against Serban. Then the final against Irina Begu followed.

    Ana Bogdan was born on November 25th, 1992, in Sinaia. She
    turned pro in 2007. In 2009 Ana Bogdan was second-placed according to the juniors’
    world rankings. Slowly but surely, Ana Bogdan climbed up the WTA rankings until
    2018. She maintained her position around the 100th-place, yet in
    2022 and 2023 she managed to climb up even higher. At the moment, Ana Bogdan
    has accomplished her career-best so far, the 39th place according to
    the WTA rankings. Of the Romanian tennis players Ana Bogdan is second only to
    Sorana Cirstea, who is 32nd-placed.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    We begin with news from domestic
    basketball. In the final of the men’s championships, on aggregate, CSM CSU Oradea
    has a 2-nil lead over the 2022 title holders, U-BT Cluj-Napoca. On Sunday, CSM CSU Oradea
    secured a 79-73 first-leg win, then on Tuesday, CSM CSU Oradea secured yet another
    win, 93-83. The final is played according to the best-in-seven-matches system.
    The next two fixtures are scheduled in Cluj-Napoca, on Saturday and on Monday.


    In rhythmic gymnastics, the Azeri capital
    Baku plays host to the European championships for juniors and seniors. On
    Wednesday, in the juniors’ team competition, the Romania delegation is 11th
    placed, overall. In the seniors’ version of the contest, representing Romania are
    Annaliese Drăgan and Andreea Verdeş in the individual events, and the group
    made of Alenia Biringer, Catrina Buniov, Anisia Drăgan, Dalia Marin, Claudia
    Mitan and Antonia Stănescu.


    The Romanian tennis
    player Ana Bogdan on Wednesday sustained a nil-6, 4-6 defeat by US challenger Taylor
    Townsend. The confrontation counted towards the round of 16 as part of the WTA
    125 tournament in Florence, a competition with 115,000 USD in prize money. Third-seeded
    Ana Bogdan was defeated after one hour and 14 minutes
    of play. It was more than a year
    since Ana Bogdan had sustained a defeat with no set won in the confrontation. For
    having advanced to the Florence tournament’s round of 16, Ana Bogdan will
    receive a cheque worth 2,000 USD and will be granted 15 WTA points.


    The head-coach of Romania’s
    national women’s volleyball team, the Spaniard Guillermo
    Naranjo Hernandez, has called 18 volleyball players for the participation in
    the Golden League competition. Among them, two are signed up by foreign teams: Elizabet
    Varga plays for South Korea’s Daejeon, while Adelina Budăi-Ungureanu plays for
    Pinerolo in Italy. For their debut game in the competition, the pool of
    regulars convenes in Pitesti, when on May 27 the national squad takes on the team
    of Slovakia. Then on June 3rd, the national team travels to Ostrava, for a fixture
    against the Czech national squad. The return match is scheduled on June 8th,
    in Pitesti. The Golden League’s last
    match is scheduled on June 17th, when Romania takes on Slovakia, in
    Nitra. The first two teams in descending order advance to the competition’s semi-finals.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    We begin with news from domestic
    basketball. In the final of the men’s championships, on aggregate, CSM CSU Oradea
    has a 2-nil lead over the 2022 title holders, U-BT Cluj-Napoca. On Sunday, CSM CSU Oradea
    secured a 79-73 first-leg win, then on Tuesday, CSM CSU Oradea secured yet another
    win, 93-83. The final is played according to the best-in-seven-matches system.
    The next two fixtures are scheduled in Cluj-Napoca, on Saturday and on Monday.


    In rhythmic gymnastics, the Azeri capital
    Baku plays host to the European championships for juniors and seniors. On
    Wednesday, in the juniors’ team competition, the Romania delegation is 11th
    placed, overall. In the seniors’ version of the contest, representing Romania are
    Annaliese Drăgan and Andreea Verdeş in the individual events, and the group
    made of Alenia Biringer, Catrina Buniov, Anisia Drăgan, Dalia Marin, Claudia
    Mitan and Antonia Stănescu.


    The Romanian tennis
    player Ana Bogdan on Wednesday sustained a nil-6, 4-6 defeat by US challenger Taylor
    Townsend. The confrontation counted towards the round of 16 as part of the WTA
    125 tournament in Florence, a competition with 115,000 USD in prize money. Third-seeded
    Ana Bogdan was defeated after one hour and 14 minutes
    of play. It was more than a year
    since Ana Bogdan had sustained a defeat with no set won in the confrontation. For
    having advanced to the Florence tournament’s round of 16, Ana Bogdan will
    receive a cheque worth 2,000 USD and will be granted 15 WTA points.


    The head-coach of Romania’s
    national women’s volleyball team, the Spaniard Guillermo
    Naranjo Hernandez, has called 18 volleyball players for the participation in
    the Golden League competition. Among them, two are signed up by foreign teams: Elizabet
    Varga plays for South Korea’s Daejeon, while Adelina Budăi-Ungureanu plays for
    Pinerolo in Italy. For their debut game in the competition, the pool of
    regulars convenes in Pitesti, when on May 27 the national squad takes on the team
    of Slovakia. Then on June 3rd, the national team travels to Ostrava, for a fixture
    against the Czech national squad. The return match is scheduled on June 8th,
    in Pitesti. The Golden League’s last
    match is scheduled on June 17th, when Romania takes on Slovakia, in
    Nitra. The first two teams in descending order advance to the competition’s semi-finals.