Author: Eugen Nasta

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    The first part of Romania’s Super league football championship has drawn to a close. After the 30 rounds of the regular season, the first six teams according to the ranking advance to Group 2, where they will compete for Romania’s championship title. FCSB are at the forefront in the fight for the winning of the championship, with 28 points, CFR Cluj follow suit, with 27 points.

    Following in descending order are three teams with 26 points each, that is Universitatea Craiova, Universitatea Cluj and Dinamo Bucharest. The last team of the batch is another Bucharest squad, Rapid, with 23 points on its record sheet. In the coming weekend, in Craiova, Universitatea Cluj are pitted against Universitatea Craiova. In Cluj, the local side CFR play Dinamo, while in Bucharest, FCSB face Rapid.

    The Superleague’s ten other teams in Group 1 will confront one another to avoid being relegated. With a record of 21 points each, Transylvanian teams Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe and Hermannstadt Sibiu are best-placed according to the table. Worst-placed is Gloria Buzau, with 10 points, that is three points less than the other teams of the batch.

    At the end of the championship, Group 1’s first two teams in descending order enter the competition for a place in the preliminaries of Europe’s Conference League, taking on Group 2’s 3rd-placed team. Group1’s 9th and 10th-placed teams are relegated.

    Replacing them in the Super league are the second tier’s first two teams. In a bid to maintain their place in the Super league, the play-out’s 7th and 8th-placed teams will engage, in the playoff fixtures, with the Second League’s 3rd and 4th-placed teams.

    On Thursday, in France, FCSB play the second leg of the tie against Olympique Lyonnais, in the Europa League’s round of 16. In the first leg, in Bucharest, Olympique Lyonnais won, 3-1.

  • Posh audiobook brought out by the Casa Radio Publishers in Bucharest

    Posh audiobook brought out by the Casa Radio Publishers in Bucharest

    An audiobook made of a printed book and a CD, Dance, has enjoyed a tremendous success. It includes poems read by Nina Cassian and was re issued by the Casa Radio, Radio House Publishers. The recently-released edition is a substantially updated edition, including poems read by the author and an interview on Nina Cassian’s work and immigration. The interview was conducted by Radio Romania journalist Emil Buruiana.

    The new audiobook was compiled and released in an anniversary context, since in 2024 we marked 100 years since Nina Cassian’s birthday. Basically, it includes 51 poems Nina Cassian recorded with Radio Romania, between 1959 and 2003. Literary critic Cosmin Ciotlos wrote the foreword, while the author of the illustrations is Tudor Jebeleanu.

    An essayist, a translator, a composer and visual artist, Nina Cassian hails from a family of Jewish origin. When she was a teenager, she began frequenting leftist intellectual circles. At the aged of 16 she joined the Communist Youth organization, then an illegal entity. Young Nina Cassian dreamt of absolving the world of all its fundamental antagonisms between sexes, races, peoples, classes.

    Her editorial debut occurred in 1947, with a surrealist volume of poems, Scale 1/1. However, in the wake of an ideological attack then the newspaper Scanteia The Spark launched against her, Nina Cassian gradually begam to write avowedly proletarian poetry. After an eight-year-long roundabout, in her own words, Nina Cassian returned to authentic poetry and started writing literature for children as well.

    As a translator, she created remarkable Romanian versions of works by Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Christian Morgenstern, Iannis Ritsos and Paul Celan.

    A superb poem for children “The Tale of Two Tiger Cubs, named Ninigra and Aligru”, earned Nina Cassian the Romanian writers’ Union Prize in 1969. In 1985 Nina Cassian was a guest professor in the United States’ New York University. When she was there, Nina found out about the arrest and murder in prison of dissident Gheorghe Ursu, a close friend of hers.

    In his diary, confiscated by then the Securitate the name of Nina Cassian was mentioned, and so were her political opinions, blatantly anti-Ceausescu. Nina stayed in the United States while her apartment in Romania was confiscated and her books banned from publication and retired from libraries until the collapse of the Ceausescu regime.

    In the United States, Nina Cassian published translations of her poetry written in Romanian (”Life Sentence”), as well as poems she wrote in English (”Take My Word for It!”, ”Blue Apple” şi ”Lady of Miracles”), for which she scooped New York Library’s Silver Lion Prize in 1994.

    Nina Cassian spent the last 30 years of her life in New York. There she wrote her memoirs, which she described as a major project of her age and life, a mirror of the stolen and given years. Entitled Memory as Dowry the three volumes were brought out in Romania over 2003 and 2005.

    Attending the launch event staged by the Casa Radio Publishers were the curator of the recent edition of the Audiobook entitled Dance, literary critic Cosmin Ciotloş, filmmaker Alexandru Solomon and writer Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu.

    Cosmin Ciotloș spoke about the longevity of Nina Cassian’s poetry.

    ” What I was mainly interested in was how much of Nina Cassian today’s Romanian poetry has preserved. And when I say today’s I have a broader timespan in mind. It struck me that, for instance, many of the puns in Florin Iaru’s poetry are legitimately, beautifully, graciously indebted to Nina Cassian’s poetry. Mircea Cartarescu’s poems in the volumes A Night at the Opera or The Levant, dedicated to Ion Barbu, do not go straight to Ion Barbu but they pass through Nina Cassian’s filter.

    On the other hand, it struck me that the very young poets of today to an appreciable extent resonate with Nina Cassian’s poetry. They are a bunch of youngsters I have totally placed my stakes on because they can shake a little bit the way too troubled and way too visceral waters of my generation of poets whom I otherwise hold most dear, but towards whom in no way can I perform an exercise in worship. I mainly have in mind those who publish on the platform known as The Sonnets’ Mafia, the very young Ioan Coroamă, Florentin Popa or Mihnea Bâlici, they are youngsters on whom, again, I have totally placed my stakes.

    That being said, our response to what Nina Casian left behind her as something important in poetry should be far from a mere indiscriminate admiration. It is a poetry that needs to be filtered rationally, it needs to be properly documented, and, at the endpoint of this documentation, apart from the ethical stance we can judge, more or less, we shall soon find out we have interacted with a vivid stylistic formula. A stylistic formula which is still productive, and we do not owe that to Nina Cassian’s longevity, but to the longevity of Nina Cassian’s wit. “

    A Canadian resident since the late 1980s, writer Călin Andrei Mihăilescu met Nina Cassian first in 2 Mai, the Romanian Black Sea resort where she used to spend her summers, and then in New York, decades later.

    ”This is an audiobook, so you can hear Nina’s voice recorded on the radio between the late 1950s and the early 2000. And I can say Nina Cassian’s voice is very high, were we to place her in a pantheon of the great Romanian voices. Hers was an educated voice. It was an extremely clever voice, at one refine and erotic. I got to know better Nina in New York in the last 20 years of her life. There was a time when I went there once a month doing creative writing workshops, alternatively, in Romanian and din English, or in both languages in one single session.

    I was doing those workshops together with Nina, who had a bottle of crap whiskey yet it usually was one a one-liter bottle and who was capable of making anyone drink their heads off. Obviously, she smoked more than I do and, believe you me, I really am a smoker. Nina was a diva. A diva living in an apartment, in a relatively crappy block of flats in Roosevelt Island, an island located on East River, where Nina resisted the temptation the jump off, not following the example of Paul Celan or Gherasim Luca, who took their own lives throwing themselves off into the Seine.

    Everything was damp in that area, save for her apartment, crammed with magazines, you could find vey many issues of the Literary Gazette and Literary Romania. The famous Paris Match issue of 1968 could also be found there, with an article of General de Gaulle’s visit to Bucharest.”

    Filmmaker Alexandru Solomon’s reminiscing Nina Cassian was also extremely emotional. During the launch event Alexandru Solomon also had a short film screened, a film he had made when he was a teenager. Captured in the shots taken in Vama Veche, there were Nina Cassian and his mother, painter and art history teacher Yvonne Hasan, together with the group of artists they were members of.

  • Sports weekend

    Sports weekend

    Three tennis players from Romania this coming weekend will play in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, an event with almost 9 million dollars in prize money. In the first round on Wednesday, Irina Begu defeated Ann Li of the USA, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

    Begu will next go against 25th- seeded tennis player, Great Britain’s Katie Boulder. On Thursday, Jaqueline Cristian defeated Russian opponent Veronika Kudermetova, 6-2, 6-3. This coming weekend, Cristian takes on 27th-seeded player, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez. Sorana Cîrstea will also go against another seeded player, US opponent Emma Navarro, 10th-seeded in Indian Wells.

    We recall Cirstea in the first round outclassed Australian challenger Maya Joint, who came straight from the qualifiers, 6-2,7-5.
    At the World Women’s Boxing Championships in Nis, Serbia, due to kick-start this coming Saturday, Romania will dispatch a 10-strong delegation of boxers. European champion in 2019 and vice-word champion in 2022, Lacramioara Perijoc stands the greatest chances to winning a medal. Perijoc’s record also includes European silver medals, in 2023 and 2024. In Nis, Lacramioara Perijoc will compete in the 57-kilogram category.

    Also keeping her hopes alive to winning a medal is Claudia Nechita, a boxer who initially competed in the 57-kilogram category and now fights in the 60-kilogram category. We recall Nechita participated in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. In 2024 at the European Championships in Belgrade Nechita walked home with the silver medal.

    The prize money for the medal is impressive: 100, 000 USD for gold, 50, 000 USD for silver and 25, 000 USD for the bronze medal. 10,000 USD go to the 5th-placed boxer. Prize money all told amounts to almost three million USD.

    Football matches are scheduled at the weekend, counting towards the 30th round, the last one, of Romanian Superleague’s regular season. On Friday, Oţelul Galaţi are pitted against Poli Iaşi, while Farul Constanţa play Universitatea Cluj. In Ploiesti on Saturday, the local side Petrolul play Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe. In Sibiu, Hermannstadt take on Rapid Bucharest.

    In the first fixture on Sunday, CFR Cluj play a home match against Gloria Buzău. On Sunday evening in Bucharest, round 30th’ derby will see top-of-the-table team FCSB facing the runner-up team Universitatea Craiova. Bucharest team FCSB are fresh from a 1-3 defeat in the Europa League’s round of 16, in the first leg of the tie against French team Olympique Lyonnais.

    The regular season’s last two fixtures are scheduled on Monday, as FC Botoşani are pitted against Unirea Slobozia, while UTA go against Dinamo. FCSB are at the top of the as-it-stands table, with 53 points. Universitatea Craiova follows suit, with 52 points.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    U-BT Cluj-Napoca basketball team has succeeded a heart-throbbing qualification in the quarterfinals of EuroCup men’s competition, having defeated in the round of 16 Lithuanians opponents Wolves Vilnius, 100-99, away. U-BT’s top scorer was their US player Zavier Simpson, with 25 points, 5 recoveries and 14 assists.

    In the quarterfinals, U-BT Cluj-Napoca take on Spain’s Valencia Basket, a team they have already gone against in the EuroCup’s group stage. In both legs of the tie, the Spaniards won, 105-96 in Cluj-Napoca and 108-80 in Valencia and are at the top of the table in Group B. We recall U-BT Cluj-Napoca play the EuroCup’s quarterfinals for the second year in a row, having qualified straight from the competition’s group phase in 2024.

    In news from women’s volleyball, Volei Alba Blaj grabbed a 3-2 away win against Hungarian side Vasas Budapest, in a fixture counting towards the first leg of the CEV Cup semifinals. Romanian vice-champions won after two hours of play and made a giant leap forward to the CEV Cup’s finals.

    With 23 points, the Ukrainian Elizaveta Ruban was the Romanian team’s most efficient scorer. The return leg against Vasas in scheduled on March 11 in Blaj. We recall Volei Alba Blaj has unsuccessfully played four times in European Cups finals, in 2018, in the Champions League, in the CEV Cup, in 2019 and 2023, and in the Challenge Cup in 2021.

    At the 2025 edition of the European Seniors’ Indoor Athletics Championship in Apeldoorn, The Low Countries, Romania has sent a seven-strong delegation, with four athletes proving their mettle in the women’s version of the competition, while other three, in the men’s version.

    Alina Rotaru – Kottmann competes in the long-jump event, Andreea Taloş, Diana Ana Maria Ion, and Răzvan Cristian Grecu, in the hop, step and jump event, Maria Mihalache, in the 60m race, Alin Ionuţ Anton, in the 60m hurdles race and Andrei Rares Toader, in the shot-put event.

    Andreea Miklos, in the 400m race and Stella Rutto in the 3, 000m race initially included the delegation, will not participate in the competition. Recently Miklos has sustained an injury while Rutto was unable to gather the required number of points for qualification. Daniela Stanciu has not been included in the delegation either. We recall Daniela represented Romania at the Paris Olympics in 2024, in the high-jump event and is now recovering after an injury.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Romanian football team FCSB is that close to succeeding a performance which is an absolute first for Romanian football: the qualification to the quarterfinals of a European competition in a new format. Since the Champions League, Europa League then Conference League have replaced the former European Cups, the longest trail of a Romanian football team ended at the round of 16.

    It happened in 2013, when Steaua Bucharest, in Europa League’s round of 16, was defeated by Chelsea, the trophy holders at that time. We recall Steaua won in the first leg, 1-nil, in Bucharest, then sustained a 1-3 defeat on Stamford Bridge. Since 2017, Steaua has become FCSB.

    On Thursday, holders FCSB play the first leg against French team Olympique Lyonnais. FCSB have recently gone past the competitions’ playoffs, defeating Greek opponents PAOK Thessalonica, 2-1, away and 2-nil, at home.

    Olympique Lyonnais have advanced straight to the round of 16, having been 6th-placed in the main group phase. The French team’s record is made of four wins, three draws and only one defeat. Their record is not spectacularly better than FCSB’s record, made of four wins, two draws and two defeats. What made the difference was Olympique Lyonnais’ 4-1 win against Glasgow Rangers on Ibrox park on October 3rd. We recall on October 25th Glasgow rangers trounced FCSB, 4-nil.

    At present, one round ahead of the end of the regular season, holders FCSB are at the top of the table according to the Superleague’s ranking, having one point more than Universitatea Craiova, the team FCSB will confront this coming Sunday. In this past weekend’s round, the match pitting FCSB against Rapid Bucharest ended in a blank draw; FCSB were one man shy on the pitch for almost 60 minutes.

    In the French first League, after 24 rounds, Olympique Lyonnais are 6th-placed, On Sunday, Portuguese head-coach Palo Fonseca’s trainees grabbed a 2-1 home win against Brest, the team that in 2025 represented France in the Champions League.

    In the French championship’s last five fixtures, Olympique sustained only two defeats, by top of the table team Paris Saint-Germain and the runner-up team Olympique Marseille.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    Romanian fencers throughout the years scooped 17 medals. The first Romanian athlete to have stepped onto a step of the Olympic podium was Olga Orbán Szabó. In Melbourne, in 1956, Olga won silver in women’s individual foil event. In Tokyo, in 2021, Ana Maria Branza won also silver, this time in the epee event. The record includes 15 other medals, of which four gold.

    The first gold medallist was Ionel Dramba in Ciudad de Mexico, in 1968, in the foil event. Then there was Laura Badea, in Atlanta, in 1996, also in the foil event. Then there were Mihai Covaliu, in Atlanta, in 2000, the sabre event and the women’s epee team in Rio, in 2016.

    In recent years, the seniors’ record was rather lackluster. However, a new generation comes from behind. Recently, at the European Fencing Championships for juniors and cadets in Turkey’s Antalya, Romania has won five medals. In the juniors’ event, the Romanian saber team made of Rosemarie Benciu, Amalia Covaliu, Catinca Dumitru and Anastasia Fusea stepped onto the highest step of the podium.

    In the men’s saber event, Vlad Covaliu won silver. Also silver went to Emma Sont, in the women’s epee event. In the cadets’ competition, Amalia Covaliu won silver in the sabre event, while Natalia Constantin walked away with bronze in the epee event.

    Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Amalia Covaliu the Athlete of the week, since she was the Romanian lineup’s only fencer to have won two medals.

    Amalia Covaliu is the daughter of Olympic champion Mihai Covaliu, the current president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. She was born on March 25th, 2008. As part of the first European cadets’ championship of her career, hosted by Estonia’s Tallinn, Amalia succeeded her first major performance, walking away with silver. In the final, Amalia Covaliu conceded defeat to Hungarian challenger Emese Domokos, 10-15. In Turkey, in 2025, Amalia again reached as far as the final, sustaining yet another defeat by Italy’s Francesca Lentini, 15-11.

    In the juniors’ team final held in France, Amalia Covaliu was the first one to step on the plank where she was outclassed by Rita Robineaux, 5-3. Amalia’s colleagues Catinca Dumitru and Anastasia Fusea were also overpowered, so France had the upper hand, securing a 20-14 advantage. Amalia Covaliu returned and gave the signal for the team’s vigorous comeback.

    After three more assaults, Romania had the advantage. Until the end, the Romanians won every assault. The last fencer on the plank was Amalia Covaliu, who also set the final score: 45 to 37 for Romania.

  • Can artificial intelligence steal our jobs? Can anything be done about that?

    Can artificial intelligence steal our jobs? Can anything be done about that?

    Fear looms as artificial intelligence (AI) can possibly fuel an unemployment crisis making human work literally irrelevant. It is one of the most serious concerns of our times. According to more optimistic predictions AI will only replace repetitive jobs, jobs that do not imply creativity or innovation. Notwithstanding, for media and creative industry employees it is all clear that things are gloomier than they appear to be.

    Over one third of translators lost part of their workload because of AI. Companies have carried massive layoffs for content writer positions, keeping only the bare minimum of employees, in a bid to make AI work sound more human. Moreover, 46% of the respondents to a survey carries in the United States expressed their fear that AI would replace press reporters and book authors.

    Luiza Banyai has a more than 20 years’ experience in HR. Ms Banyai is also a consultant in organizational transformation. She believes that, against this backdrop, the importance of lifelong training and development is as important as it could be. However, such a responsibility equally lies with the employer and the employee:

    “First off, that alone should generate a need to learn. The responsibility of learning lies with every one of us, meaning my boss cannot be responsible for how I develop, yet he is responsible for making sure I have the necessary tools and knowledge so I can do the job I have been hired for. Also, so I can grow in the company, as for myself and company, it is an advantage to grow in that particular company,

    The hardest thing is to adapt a cultural man, and not to have them grow, from the standpoint of skills and competences. Once I adapted culturally in a company, I know how everything works, I understand that particular business, the easiest thing, actually, is to invest in my growth, so I can advance to other positions. And that is the manager’s job. My job, however, is to be able to become responsible for my own growth. “
    Luiza Banyai believes that, for those whom AI affects directly, at individual level, because the job they have been training for, is no longer necessary, fear have its negative effects. However, the expert suggests a different attitude:

    “Every time, it is like a process, I return into the loop, I understand what I want, what I like to do, what, from what I do, can be paid ? What, from what I do, is not paid any more. Okay, what can I do differently so I can retain my relevance? And then you need to begin to learn other skills, that’s all. Everything changes.

    The job of streamer, did it exist a couple of years ago? Did we have Uber? Is there any opportunity to make global translations? AI ethics jobs will appear, for instance, the fake news detectors, who will be very important in the company.“

    Luiza Banyai believes that, in Romania, in recent years the investment made was not efficient and sufficient enough in the development of competences required for human resources departments, so that the latter can contribute in their maximum capacity to the employees’ organizational development.

    Also, Luiza Banyai considers the middle management competences did not grow organically and in harmony with the company’s infrastructure, so the managers can have the knowledge of how to develop the human potential in the teams they run, in a sustainable and sound manner. People in such positions no longer have the necessary or the required tools so they can help the others grow, stay motivated and continue to get involved.

    “It happened during the most recent crisis, over 2008-2009, when the crisis was a major one. We all know we had been going through other crises, the pandemic and suchlike…and what are we going through right now. But here is what happened then: companies had to resurface very quickly, they had to survive. So they needed people who were strictly oriented towards the delivery of a result. These people grew, they delivered results. It’s just that they delivered business/processes results.

    In the human sector, if you want to enhance the management you need to invest organically and you need to infuse development, in a strategic manner. You’re the one who must teach the manager how to use the hammer and the anvil. You’re the one who must do your duty to teach them, afterwards creating an auspicious context for them to implement it, and for that there wasn’t much time.

    And then quite a few of them grew with the title, with the name; somehow the position enhancement was used as a method of retention, which is wrong, because, longer-term, it only generates safeguarding, no development is generated doing that, or engagement, it is a form of safeguarding a contract.

    And something like that can be felt, it can be seen in the patterns of behavior around the company, you can see that in the amount of pressure, you can see that in the fact that the conductor no longer exists, which means that in the long run, the role of the manager is to conduct. He is like the conductor of an orchestra, all that can be so finely-tuned and fine from the standpoint of the impact they have…”

    According to a recent survey, 50% of the Romanian employees believe the current retraining/refresher programs in companies fail to develop communication and relational skills (soft skills) tailored to real-life scenarios. In the big companies, such a percentage can reach 56%.

    For Luiza Banyai, the role a company can play in its employees’ lives is honorable, since they have the opportunity to offer people useful skills, not only on the job but also in all other aspects of their lives. Learning how to communicate efficiently, how to get involved in the decision-making process or how to offer and receive feedback, these are qualities that contribute to a better life and to a better society, generally speaking.

    Therefore, the organizations that will embrace lifelong learning will have employees who are prepared to respond to the changes of our times. For them, technology will be an ally and not a reason to fear.

  • Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Radio Romania International Sports Club

    Romanian veteran athlete, the late Mihaela Penes passed away on August 29, 2024. Penes was one of Romanian athletics’’ first Olympic champions, Mihaela Penes lead a life totally dedicated to sports, first as a performer, then as a head-coach and official of Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. However, in recent years Mihaela Penes retired from public life. She went to a monastery in Northern Moldavia and later she spent the rest of her days in a care home in Bucharest.

    Mihaela Peneş was born in Bucharest on July 22nd, 1947. She took up sports when still a child, under the direct supervision of her mother. Her first great performance occurred when she was only 7. Back then Mihaela swam across the Floreasca lake. For her performance she was rewarded with an ice-cream.

    Mihaela Penes had a dalliance with swimming and handball, yet she eventually opted for athletics. It didn’t taker her long to break the juniors’ javelin throw national record in 1964, when she was only 17. Also in 1964 Mihaela Penes was included in the line-up for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Back then she was highly unlikely to win a medal, yet Mihaela Penes succeeded the impossible.

    In the qualifiers, veteran athlete Yelena Gorchakova of then the USSR succeeded a throw measuring 62 meters and 40 centimeters, setting a new world record, unparalleled for eight years. However, in the final Gorchakova came in third. From her very first attempt, Mihaela Peneş succeeded to throw the javelin at the distance of 60 meters and 54 centimeters, winning the gold medal. Hungary’s Marta Rudas won the silver medal, with a throw of 58 meters and 27 centimeters. Yelena Gorchakova of then the USSR walked home with silver, with a throw measuring 57 meters and 6 centimeters.

    At the Olympic Games in Ciudad de Mexico in 1968, Mihaela Penes competed as a defending champion. Again, her best attempt in the final was her first throw, measuring 59 de meters and 92 centimetres. However, Hungarian athlete Angela Nemeth in her second attempt managed a throw measuring 60 meters and 36 centimeters, scooping the gold medal, Mihaela Penes had to make do with the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Austria’s Eva Janko, with a throw measuring 58 meters and 4 centimeters.

    After she retired from competition, Penes was a dedicated head coach. Later she was on the official top management staff of the Romanian Athletics Federation and the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. Mihaela Penes also had a stint as director of Romanian Olympic Academy.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Among the great athletes who sadly passed away in 2024 there is former handball legend and head-coach Ştefan Birtalan. He was born on September 25, 1948 in Zalau, northern Romania. When in high school he took up handball, volleyball, basketball and athletics.

    Minerul Baia Mare was among the first teams Birtalan was signed up by. Minerul got first promoted to the second-tier division, Division B, and then to Division A. From 1970 to 1985, with an interruption from 1981 to 1983, Stefan Birtalan played for Steaua Bucharest, a team with which he won the domestic championship title 12 times. With Steaua Bucharest Army Club, in 1971 Birtalan was a European Champions Cup finalist. We recall Steaua won the Cup in 1977.

    In 1974, 1976 and 1977, Birtalan was awarded Romania’s best athlete title. For the Romanian national teams, he had been playing from 1966 when he made his debut with the juniors’ national teams. In 1968, at the age of 20, Birtalan scooped Romania’s best athlete title. He was then selected for the national seniors’ team, when they won the world title in Paris, in 1970, and in Berlin, in 1974, in then the German Democratic Republic. Also in Berlin, in 1974, Stefan Birtalan was designated top scorer, with 43 goals scored.

    Birtalan participated in three editions of the Olympic games. In Munich, in 1972, when Romania walked away with bronze, Birtalan played only one game. However, in 1976, in Montreal, where Romania won the silver medals, Birtalan played in six games and was the competition’s most efficient scorer, with 32 goals scored. In 1980, in Moscow, he participated in an edition of the Olympic Games for the third time around, walking home with a bronze medal. Birtalan played in all six fixtures Romania had on schedule, scoring 23 goals.

    As a head-coach, Ştefan Birtalan began his career in the Italian second-tier league, with Follonica. Upon his return to Romania, he was Radu Voina’s deputy head-coach with Steaua Bucharest. Concurrently, Birtalan trained Romania’s men’s youth national team. From 1991 to 1994, Stefan Birtalan was Steaua’s head-coach. Birtalan then activated in Qatar, as a coordinating head-coach of all national handball teams of the Gulf Country.

    In 2002, Birtalan gave up being a head-coach altogether because of health problems. He was then co-opted by Steaua Bucharest in the handball section’s management staff.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Many-time world and Olympic medalist, veteran kayak rower Vasile Diba died on February 20, 2024. The first Romanian Olympic kayak champion was born on July 24, 1954, in the Tulcea County locality of Jurilovca, in the east.

    Diba made his debut in rowing with the Delta Tulcea sports club in 1970, under the supervision of one of Romania’s greatest coaches, Igor Lipalit. In 1971, Vasile Dina succeeded his first great performance winning the national juniors’ title in men’s canoe sprint kayak single 500m race. Also in 1971, on the Snagov Lake in Romania, Diba became European juniors’ vice-champion in men’s kayak double.

    In 1973, being drafted for the military service in the structures of the Internal Affairs Ministry, Vasile Dîba was signed up by Dinamo Bucharest sports club. In 1977, Diba wins his first world titles in a seniors’ competition in Mexico’s Xochimilco. Diba won the title in men’s canoe sprint kayak single 500m race. Also, he was part of the team that won kayak 4x500m relay race.

    Vasile Diba’s career continued, until the end, with Dinamo Bucharest Sports Club. In 1976, as part of the Olympic Games in Montreal, Diba won the gold medal in men’s canoe sprint kayak single 500m race and the bronze medal in the 1,000m race. Also in the 500m and 1,000m races, in 1977 Vasile Diba won the world title in Sofia. In 1978, he retained his title in the 500m race at the World Championships in former Yugoslavia.

    In Moscow in 1980, Vasile Diba participated in the Olympics for the second time around in his career. Back then he won bronze in men’s canoe sprint kayak single 500m race and silver with men’s kayak four crew. Vasile Diba also took the start in the Los Angeles Olympics, in 1984, but he was unable to step onto a step of the podium.

    Vasile Dîba retired from competition in 1987. His record until them had been a scintillating one,so Diba is one of Romania’s greatest kayak rowers of all time. After he retired from competition, Diba opted for quitting the world of sports altogether, joining the Internal Affairs Ministry enforcement structures. He worked in the ministry’s Judiciary section in a Bucharest-based police station until 2001, when he retired.

  • Joint training of Spanish military of the NATO Battle group and the Romanian Mountain Hunters.

    Joint training of Spanish military of the NATO Battle group and the Romanian Mountain Hunters.

    Joint training of Spanish military of the NATO Battle group and the Romanian Mountain Hunters.
    Scout militaries of the Mountain Hunters’ 61st Brigade jointly with the Spanish military Battle group, for two weeks running took a training stage hosted by the training camp in Diham, Brasov County.

    For the Spanish military, training in Romania was, to put it at the mildest, unusual, since they are Marines special corps, whereas their training in Romania took place in the Carpathians’ snow-covered forests and peaks.

    Training in the mountains offered militaries of both armies the opportunity to share their professional experience in a bid to enhance the interoperability level using joint procedures in various tactical operations. The forested mountain terrain, difficult to access, strengthened the team spirit and the sense of belonging to the great NATO family.

    These are the thoughts shared by the commander of the Spanish contingent, major Alejandro Caballero:

    “By all means, the climate here is quite different from the one we have in southern Spain, where we come from. There are a great many differences, also, if we speak about the terrain where we train, that is on the coast and in the littoral area. And now, here we are now, in the mountains, in winter, rubbing shoulders with our Romanian partners, an opportunity for us to prove our flexibility and adaptability, irrespective of the environment. Regarding the training exercises, they are similar, as both Romania and our country are NATO member states, so there are not that many differences, considering the implemented techniques, tactics and procedures. I take into account any opportunity to train jointly with military of other states who are stationed here, in Romania, so for us it is a tremendous opportunity. “

    Attending the joint Romanian-Spanish training stage was the new commander of the NATO Battle group in Romania, French colonel Thierry Denechaud.

    Colonel Denechaud had this to say on the joint training exercise:

    “First of all, I believe it is very important that joint action be taken, given that the Spanish militaries are part of a marine infantry contingent. It was for the first time ever when they trained in a mountain area, therefore, jointly with their Romanian partners, they made the first step towards the discovery of an environment they are not quite used to. I am positive that as part of the camp they learned many new and useful things, that is why, at the end of the week, they will return to the military base better prepared in that particular kind of training. Which is very good. “

    A team of US Army’s Civil Affairs and representatives of the 1st CIMIC Battalion, a civilians-militaries cooperation body of the Romanian Ground Forces were in Timisoara, in the west, for a new stage of the CIMIC Victory exercise. CIMIC Victory’s stated aims are the enhancement of the cooperation between institutions and the promotion of the strategic partnership between Romania and the Unites States.

    Captain Connor Smith is the leader of the US team. Captain Smith spoke about the relevance of the project.

    “US Army’s Civil Affairs mainly deal in the coordination and the management of military activities related to the communities revolving around the military operations. In Romania, that basically means training. We provided help keeping the authorities at the level of public institutions informed about the training exercises. We make sure such aspects as the convoys entering and getting out of the training areas do not interfere that much with the people’s daily traffic or day-to-day life.

    This morning I’ve been to a high-school in Timisoara, via the American Corner, which is the US Embassy’s program, where we participate in a bid to speak about the value of the US partnership in Romania and the importance of Romania being a NATO member state. We’re going to speak a little bit about the security provided by collective defense, one of the Alliance’s fundamental principles, also talking about the value of the bilateral partnership between the United States and Romania. “

  • Grandparents acting as museum guides

    Grandparents acting as museum guides

    The one-week “ski holiday”, as it is usually known, is scheduled in Romania in February. It is part of the secondary-school timetable. Also, its timeframe is subject to change, according to decisions taken by local municipalities.

    In Oradea, in the northwest, the Oradea Cris Rivers Museum – Museum Compound jointly with Bihor County Council and the Municipality of Oradea staged an activity themed “ With grandparents at the museum. Guides for one day “. During the February 18th and 23rd school holiday, grandparents and their grandchildren are invited to get acquainted with the history of the town. Accordingly, grandparents will have the opportunity to act as guides, for the grandchildren.

    Cristina Liana Pușcaș holds a Doctor’s degree in history. She is a museographer with the Oradea Town Museum, a section of the Oradea Cris Rivers Museum. Dr Puscas told us more about the project.

    “Practically, it is the 2nd edition of this program which we initially thought out in 2023. The following year, in 2024, we could not stage it since the museum underwent a thoroughgoing refurbishment process. We thought out the project to be implemented throughout the ski holiday, bearing in mind not all the children could afford going on such a trip, so quite a few of them stayed at home, in their hometowns, in Oradea, mostly, with their grandparents, who could afford going out for the day, in a bid to get acquainted with the history of the town, at once sharing their own life experience with their grandchildren.

    Last year, through this large-scale project of refurbishing the Town Museum section, we arranged a couple of museum areas, new exhibitions, quite a few of them dedicated to that specific period of communism, an era those grandparents used to live in, so their own life experience can be transposed into stories, in each of the dedicated rooms. “

    Dr Puscas told us more about the project.

    “They can, for instance, speak to the children about the significance of the fish placed on top of the TV set, about what those bottles of milk meant, how they were queuing up, the soda bottle, the petrol lamp reminding everyone of the fact that at that time, in the evening, they had power outages for a couple of hours, about the dial telephone.

    As part of the exhibition themed “Education in Oradea in the 20th century” we have a classroom of that time, with the school uniforms, with the pioneer’s uniform, we have the ink glass, the letter box, the abacuses, so much so that the stories and the life experience of those grandparents can be explained much easier. Another exhibition children may find extremely attractive is the one themed “The Discotheque of the 70s and the 80s”, since grandparents lived at that time, so they can spin the yarn of what life meant, at that time, for them, when they were young. “

    The museum staff also prepared additional info for the halls in the museum that were a little bit more difficult to explain by the grandparents turned guides, our interlocutor also said.

    “It goes without saying they cannot possible have such comprehensive notions, For instance, for World War One, we have prepared a brief piece of info on what the Romanian Army’s entering Oradea in 1919 actually meant, to be more specific, who Traian Mosoiu was, the hero who contributed to the liberation of the town. And speaking about the day-to-day life, in the communist times, we also have a flyer with info and images that can, in effect, trigger grandparents’ memories of what the communist times meant. “

    We asked Cristina Liana Pușcaș what the successful points were, of the 2023 edition of the project:

    “Taking a quick look at the photos of two years ago, I realized grandparents really came, with their grandchildren, and they were having a closer look at those objects. And from the photos, you could see them explaining how the telephone worked, for instance, with a dial, how a radio worked, how a turntable worked, for instance, what the vinyl was good for and from those photographs I even recalled grandparents truly got involved in the description of quite a few of those objects.

    As we speak, exhibitions are pretty well stocked with such objects, so grandparents will definitely have much more pieces of info at their fingertips, enabling them to give much more detailed explanations to their grandchildren. “

    The entrance fee for one ticket as part of this museum program is 10 lei per person, that is 2 Euros, for the master exhibitions of the Oradea Town Museum Section. The Oradea Museum Town Cultural Complex, based in the Oradea Fortress makes temporary and permanent exhibitions available for visitors.

    Here are some of the themes of the museum’s permanent exhibitions: ”Churches in the palace – archaeological research in the Princely Palace”. “The History of Bread” The History of Oradea Photography”, “The Convenience Store”, “Childhood in the Golden Age. The Resistance and repression in Bihor Memorial”. Then there is the “Moving Monuments Exhibition. Depersonalisation”, of fine artist Cătălin Bădărău. There are also The Oradea Greek-Catholic Bishopric Exhibition – Pages of History, the Exhibition of the Oradea Reformed Church and the Oradea Roman-Catholic Bishopric Exhibition.

  • Athlete of the week

    Athlete of the week

    Romanian women’s handball team CSM Bucharest, in 2025 as well, have succeeded to go past the Champions League’s group phase. It has been a while since CSM Bucharest have secured the 3rd position in the competition’s Group A, also succeeding to advance to the quarterfinals’ playoffs.

    CSM had a rather unassuming start in the ongoing season, so they sadly lost a number of precious points which denied them the opportunity to fight for one of the first two positions in the rankings. That could have secured them their ticket for the quarterfinals.

    Gaining access to the competition’s quarterfinals were Metz Handball of France and Ferencváros Budapest, the teams that won their double-legged ties against CSM Bucharest. Notwithstanding, in the wake of their last defeat by French holders Metz Handball on January 12, CSM Bucharest have had a win-all record.

    CSM’s most recent win was the one they succeeded this past weekend, when they trounced Norway’s vice champions Storhamar, 32-21, away, one more time proving they were a truly top-notch team. CSM Bucharest’s most efficient scorer was Crina Pintea, with ten goals on her record sheet.

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

    Crina Pintea was born on April 3rd, 1990, in eastern Romania’s Bacau County. At the age of 20, Crina made her debut as a senior player with Handball Club Zalău, with then head-coach Gheorghe Tadici at the helm. In 2015, with Handball Club Zalau, Crina Pintea reached as far as the EHF Cup’s final, also playing the EHF Cup’s semifinals in 2016.

    In 2015, Crina Pintea began talks with HCM Baia Mare, and that is why Gheorghe Tadici excluded her from the team. Crina Pintea was then signed up by German side Thüringer, the team with which she also won the Bundesliga in 2016. In 2017 she played for the French team Issy Paris Hand, later known as Paris 92. For 2017 – 2018 competition season, Crina Pintea was designated the best pivot of the French domestic women’s handball championship. Later on, Crina’s contract with Paris 92 was taken over by the Hungarian side Gyor.

    We recall in 2019, with Gyor, Crina Pintea won the Champions League. Crina Pintea then had a short stint with CSM Bucharest, returning to Gyor afterwards, for one single competition season. She has been playing for CSM Bucharest since 2022. With the national team, Crina made her debut in 2012. In 2015, with the national team, Crina Pintea won bronze at the World Championship in Denmark. Notwithstanding, in 2024, Crina Pintea made public her retirement from the national team.

  • Sports weekend

    Sports weekend

    Romanian football team FCSB has made a giant leap towards Europa league’s round of 16. ON Wednesday in the first leg counting towards the competition’s play-off, holders FCSB grabbed a 2-1 away win against PAOK Thessalonica. PAOK drew first blood on 21 minutes through their Tanzanian footballer Mbwana Samatta.

    Late into the first half PAOK’s Brazilian player Taison got yellow-booked for the second time around, so PAOK were one main shy on the pitch. In the second half of the game FCSB took advantage of that and scored twice, through Andrei Gheorghita on 50 minutes and Cameroonian player, Joyskim Dawa, in the 60th minute. The return leg is scheduled this coming Thursday, on February 20.

    This coming weekend will see matches being played, counting towards the Romanian Superleague’s 27th round. On Friday, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe play FC Hermannstadt Sibiu, while Universitatea Craiova are pitted against Oţelul Galaţi. On Saturday, Petrolul Ploiesti play a home game against UTA, Arad, while in Bucharest, Dinamo receive the visit of Farul Constanţa.

    On Sunday, Poli Iaşi play a home game against CFR Cluj, while FCSB travel to Buzău, for a game against the local side Gloria. The 27th round’s last two fixtures are scheduled on Monday, as Universitatea Cluj are pitted against Unirea Slobozia and Rapid Bucharest face FC Botoşani. At the top of the as-it-stands table are CFR Cluj and FCSB, with 46 points each. Three other teams have 45 points each, Universitatea Craiova, Universitatea Cluj and Dinamo Bucharest.

    In news from rugby, on Saturday in Botosani, the Romanian national squad play Portugal. The fixture is crucial, deciding the winner of Group B as part of Rugby Europe Championship, Europe’s second-tier competition. We recall Romania and Portugal defeated Germany and Belgium, in Group B’s first two games, thus securing one of the first two positions according to group rankings as well as the ticket for the 2027 edition of the World Cup.

    This coming weekend will see matches being played, counting towards a fresh round in the women’s version of the European handball competitions. In The Champions League’s Group A, on Saturday Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud play a home game against French opponents Metz Handball. On Sunday, CSM Bucharest take on Norway’s Storhamar, away from home. According to the group ranking, CSM are 3rd-placed, while Gloria, 7th. In Group B, Romanian vice-champion team Rapid Bucharest are 7th-placed.

    In the EHF European League on Saturday, in Group A, Dunărea Brăila play in Spain’s Elche. Danish head-coach Jan Leslie Lund’s trainees are 2nd placed according to the as-it-stands table, on a par with the top-of-the-table team, Germany’s Thüringer. In Grupa B, top-of-the-table team, SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea, play a home game against Borussia Dortmund.

  • Sports flash

    Sports flash

    Corona Braşov and Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc on Wednesday won their regular season matches as part of the Erste Liga ice hockey competition. Defending champions Corona Brasov on home turf defeated Hungarian opponents Jegesmedvék of Miskolc 6-4. Corona came from behind, being lead 4-nil. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc grabbed a 6-2 home win against Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák.

    The regular season’s top team is the Hungarian side Budapest Jégkorong Akadémia. With 78 points on their record sheet, the Hungarians are on a par with ACSH Gheorgheni. In Erste Liga’s play-offs, Jégkorong Akadémia take on Újpest, ACSH Gheorgheni go against Jegesmedvék, Debrecen play Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc, while Corona are pitted against Ferencváros. We recall in the previous edition of Erste Liga’s final, in the game against Ferencvaros Corona emerged as winner, 4-nil on aggregate.

    Three of the teams representing Romania in the European women’s handball competitions grabbed comfortable wins in this past Wednesday’s domestic championship games. As part of the National League’s 17th round, CSM Bucharest grabbed a 28-21 home win against CSM Târgu Jiu. We recall CSM are the best-placed Romanian team in the Champions League. Dunărea Brăila defeated CSM Iasi, 32-23, at home, while SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea trounced CSM Slatina, 41-31, also on home turf.

    CSM Bucharest have a comfortable lead according to the as-it-stands table. Another team playing in the Champions League, Rapid Bucharest, on Wednesday competed in Romanian Cup’s round of 16. Rapid grabbed a 46-16 away win against second-tier team Star Mioveni, securing a place in the quarterfinals where they go against CSM Târgu Jiu on March 16.

    As part of the Challenger tennis tournament, in Bahrain’s Manama, an event with 200,000 USD in prize money all told, the Romanian-Spanish pair made of Victor Cornea and Sergio Martos Gornes on Wednesday advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals. Cornea and Martos Gornes defeated Benoit Paire and Yusuf Qaed, 6-2, 7-6. The top-seeded Romanian-Spanish pair received 2, 030 USD and were granted 20 points according to the ATP rankings.