Radio România Internațional

Category: Sport

  • RRI Sports Club– The Chess Kings Tournament

    RRI Sports Club– The Chess Kings Tournament

    The Romanian men’s chess team is today playing the defending Olympic champion China in a match venued by Medias in central Romania, as part of the 8th edition of the Kings Tournament. Previous editions were played in a fixed format, featuring a certain number of worldclass players, including the defending world champion Magnus Carlsen, who won the 2010 and 2011 editions. Three of China’s players, Wang Yue, Ni Hua and Wei Yi also played in the team Olympiad in Tromso, Norway, where they won gold. Joining the match against Romania is 19-year-old Lu Shanglei, who last month became the under-21 world champion in Pune, India. Romania’s team, coached by international master Sergiu Grunberg, is made up of Constantin Lupulescu, Mircea Parligras, Vlad Jianu and Vladislav Nevednichy.



    As a preface to the match pitting Romania against China in Medias, Bucharest will hold a blitz tournament, where all players will play 3-minute matches, in addition to another 2 seconds for every move. Taking part will be Mihnea Costachi, bronze medallist in the 14-year category at the Under-21 World Championships this year, as well as Bogdan-Daniel Deac, the youngest international chess master. The under-21 tournament this year was won easily by Lu Shanglei, who gave no chances to the other competitors, scoring 5 wins in the first 5 rounds. Although losing in the last but one round to Constantin Lupulescu of Romania, Lu Shanglei went on to win the blitz tournament with 6.5 points in 9 games. Here is what the Chinese coach Li Wenliang told the press after the tournament:



    “Chinese players have scooped first and second place, these are very good results for China. The Romanian team also played well, I would single out this young, remarkable player — Bogdan Deac”.



    Bogdan Deac ranked 6th at the end of the tournament with 5 points, defeating no less than 4 players, Wei Yi and Ni Hua of China and Vladislav Nevednichy and Mircea Parligras of Romania.



    The match in Medias is also a good test ahead of upcoming international competitions. Lu Shanglei and Constantin Lupulescu are set to play in the World Cup, a knock-out-based competition at the end of which eight finalists qualify to the World Title tournament. The winner of this tournament will then have the chance to challenge the title of world champion Magnus Carlsen.


  • The Athlete of the Week – Rugby player Florin Vlaicu

    The Athlete of the Week – Rugby player Florin Vlaicu

    In Bucharest The Oak Leaf Knights in their last game of the season clinched a 18 — 9 win against Canada. It was the third test match Romania played this autumn. We recall that in its previous confrontations, Romania sustained a 27 –17 defeat at the hands of the United States and a 18-13 defeat against Japan.


    Right after the game against Canada, the captain of Romania’s rugby team Mihai Macovei sounded buoyant because of the national team’s performance on the pitch: “It was a very well-organized game, with a Canadian line-up which was very good. Our win counted a lot, since it boosted our morale for next year’s World Cup match, when we will also be taking on Canada. Two wins in the last two years, that is crucial for the World Cup.”



    And It was also next year’s World Cup game against Canada, to be played in England the Romanian Rugby Federation’s president Haralambie Dumitras had in mind: ”I hope we will be able to clinch yet another win since both the Romanian team and the Canadian one will be making progress in the meantime. I, for one, think that today we laid our hallmark for the upcoming World Cup fixture and I am happy for the players and I congratulate them. Let me just say thank you to all the people in my team, we had a lot of patience to carry on with our work and I believe we will be able to carry it through, with a lot of passion and a lot of dedication.”



    In Saturday’s game, opening midfielder Florin Vlaicu scored all 18 points for Romania, converting a string of penalty kicks: ” I don’t think that matters toomuch. Let me say thank you to all my colleagues, they’ve been wonderful today and we showed we had loads of character. We played our first game against the USA, and we were not so good. We fared a little better against Japan, but we were defeated nonetheless and I said that at least the national team’s last fixture this season must mean a win and I should like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the boys.”



    For the performance against Canada, Radio Romania International has designated rugby player Florin Vlaicu the Athlete of the Week.

  • Footbal: Romania vs. Denmark

    Footbal: Romania vs. Denmark

    Tonight, Romania’s national football side will take on the team of Denmark in a friendly match. The match is taking place on the National Arena in Bucharest, where the Romanian team defeated 2-0 the team of Northern Ireland four days ago. That was the first match of the Romanian team coached by Anghel Iordanescu.



    Iordanescu said that today he would use more new players, 4 or 5 of whom will make their debut in the national team. Iordanescu told a press conference held at the Mogosoaia Press Centre, quote: ”Even after these two matches, I’d like to bring in new players. For the next period, I want to have a programme for the national side so as to see as many players at work as possible. I’d like to reconsider the situation of certain players who gave up playing for the national side, but who can still do a lot for this team.”unquote.



    After the match with Northern Ireland, Iordanescu replaced Cristi Tanase and Bodan Stancu with Adi Popa from the team Steaua Bucharest and Mihai Roman from the team Pandurii Tg. Jiu respectively. George Puscas, who is 18 years old and plays with Inter Milan, is the youngest member of the Romanian side. The defender of PAOK Salonika Razvan Rat, who is 33 years old, is the veteran of the Romanian team, while Gabi Torje playing with Konyaspor, is its goal getter.



    Romania’s match with Denmark is number 656 in its record, including 292 victories, 164 matches ending in a draw and 199 defeats.


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  • A Review of the Game Pitting Romania against Finland

    A Review of the Game Pitting Romania against Finland

    Romania’s national football side has secured a two-nil win against the selection of Finland in a Group F match counting towards the preliminaries of the European Championship due next year.



    With Saturday’s game fresh in their memory, when Hungary held Romania to a one-all draw in Bucharest, the Romanians had a shy start against Finland in Helsinki. The beginning of the game belonged to the hosts, who didn’t have any clear goal chances, but managed to prevent Romanians from controlling the midfield section with intense pressing. Footballers from Romania struggled for chances but it was only on 33 minutes when Cristian Tanase challenged the skills of the Finnish keeper.



    The Romanians considerably improved their play after midfielder Sanmartean was sent to the pitch. Striker Bogdan Stancu put Romania in the lead with a header after he had latched onto a corner ball sent by Sanmartean on 54 minutes. A Finnish player was given an early bath after a challenge on Sanmartean and that eased the pressure on Romania’s midfielders. On 83 minutes Sanmartean fed Stancu who fired home from outside the box sealing the points: Romania — 2, Finland — nil. The game against Finland gave skipper Razvan Rat his 100th cap for the Romanian national side.



    Romania will be up next against the surprising Group F leader, Northern Ireland, in Bucharest on November 14th. We recall that on Tuesday night Northern Ireland clinched a two-nil win against Greece, while Hungary outperformed the Faeroe Islands, one-nil.



    Northern Ireland stays at the top of the table in Group F with nine points followed by Romania with seven, Finland and Hungary each with four points, Greece with one and the Faeroe Islands with no point.

  • The Athlete of the Week: Gymnast Larisa Iordache

    The Athlete of the Week: Gymnast Larisa Iordache

    Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache has won two silver medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships hosted by the Chinese city of Nanning last week. Larisa was the Romanian delegation’s only gymnast to have stepped onto the podium at the World Championships. Romania’s best position outside the podium occurred in the nations’ competition, where the Romanian gymnasts ranked 4th. In the all-round event finals, Larisa Iordache was 4th-placed at the end of the contest for the first two apparata.



    Larisa’s final mark in the beam event, however, gave her a boost and won the Romanian gymnast the second position. Larisa Iordache succeeded in maintaining her second position after the floor finals. With an overall score of 59.765 points, Larisa Iordache became world vice-champion. The world title in the all-round event went to the American gymnast Simone Biles, with 60.231 points, while the bronze medal was scooped by another American gymnast, Kyla Ross, with 58. 232 points. Larisa Iordache won her second silver medal in the floor finals; we recall that in the beam finals Larisa sadly fell off the beam, thus wasting the opportunity to step onto the podium. Here is what Larisa Iordache said, immediately after her successful floor finals.



    ”I, for one, found it really hard to recover. After I had failed in the beam event, my coaches stood by my side, the girls gave me a lot of support as well and I thank them all for their support! The only thing I said to myself was “It’s all or nothing!” I tried to finish the floor event as best as I could, and that’s’ what brought me a medal, and I’m very, very happy for that! I’ll keep on working. I hope I can improve my starting grades and of course, my performance. I have fared better as compared to the world championships last year, and I hope that I can make as much progress as I can.“



    For the two medals she won at the World Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China, Radio Romania International has designated Larisa Iordache the Athlete of the Week.



    Larisa Iordache was born in Bucharest on June 19, 1996 and has been training ever since she was 5. Signed up by Dinamo Sports Club in Bucharest, Larisa Iordache has compelled recognition ever since she was a junior gymnast. In Birmingham in 2010, she won the European title. Her record as a senior gymnast includes the bronze medal she won with Romania’s team in the 2012 London Olympics. Also in 2012, in Brussels, Larisa Iordache won her first European title in the all-round event. In 2013, at the European Championships, Larisa Iordache won gold in the beam event, while at the 2014 edition of the European Championships in Sofia, Larisa Iordache won four medals: gold in the nations’ competition and the floor event, silver in the beam event and bronze in the vault event.


  • Tennis Player Horia Tecau

    Tennis Player Horia Tecau

    The pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands won Sunday’s doubles at the ATP tournament in Beijing, totaling 2.5 million dollars in prize money. In the finals Tecau and Rojer outperformed Julien Benneteau of France and Vasek Pospisil of Canada, seeded fourth in the competition, 6-7, 7-5, 10-5. This is the second ATP tournament the two have won in China over the last two weeks, after last weekend they won the men’s doubles in the Shenzhen tournament.



    For his remarkable achievement, we have designated Horia Tecau Athlete of the Week on RRI for the second week in a row.



    This was the seventh title for Tecau and Rojer, after the tournaments won in Zagreb, Casablanca, Bucharest, s’Hertogenbosch, Washington, Shenzhen. The two also played the final of the Rotterdam tournament.



    In the ATP men’s doubles, Horia Tecau has gone down two places as compared to last week and is now ranked 18th, despite two wins in two weeks. Nevertheless, Tecau and Royer are now in sixth place in the Race to London rankings, of which the first eight pairs will play in the Champions Tournament.



    Let us note that Horia Tecau was born on January 19, 1985 in Brasov. He took up tennis at the age of 7, and became a professional player in 2003. Since July 2008 he has been among the world’s top 100 players, and In November 2009 he made it to the top 50. In 2012 he was 5th ranked in the world’s doubles standings, becoming the best-ranked Romanian tennis player in the entire history of the Association of Tennis Professionals.



    So far Tecau has won 23 ATP doubles tournaments. Apart from seven tournaments won alongside Rojer, Tecau also won three tournaments with Max Mirnyi of Belarus in 2013 and ten with Robert Lindstedt of Sweden between 2010 and 2012.



    Horia also won the Auckland tournament in 2010 with Marcus Daniell of New Zealand, the 2011 tournament in Acapulco with Victor Hanescu, and the 2011 tournament in Zagreb with Dick Norman of Belgium. Adding to these performances is the 2012 win in the Australian Open’s mixed doubles alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States.


  • A review of the match pitting Steaua Bucharest against Ludogorets Razgrad

    A review of the match pitting Steaua Bucharest against Ludogorets Razgrad


    20/08/2014



    Romanian football team Steaua Bucharest is one step closer to the Champions League group phase after Tuesday’s night 1-nil win over visitors from Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria. Scoring for the team coached by Constantin Galca was Alexandru Chipciu on 88 minutes.



    The two teams took no chances early into the game, with the hosts well on top in the first half and dominating the midfield. Steaua managed its first scoring chance on 35 minutes, when Lucian Sanmartean entered the penalty box only to be fouled by Yordan Minev. Felix Brych immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Alexandru Chipciu stepped up confidently to take the penalty kick, but it was denied by goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov who kept the score level. Frustrated following his miss, Alexandru Chipciu picked up a yellow card minutes later which rules him out of next week’s second leg to be played in Sofia.



    Chipciu managed to redeem himself in the second half, with a couple of good scoring opportunities as well as scoring the only goal of the match with 2 minutes before full time. The return leg will be played in Sofia on August 27.



    Let us now note the other results of the first leg of the Champions League playoffs. In Italy, Napoli held visiting side Athletic Bilbao to a 1-all draw. Besiktas held Arsenal London to a blank draw on home turf. In Salzburg, the local side Red Bull pulled a 2-1 win over Malmo of Sweden. And finally, in the last fixture, FC København lost narrowly 2-3 to Bayer Leverkusen.



    Another five matches are to be played on Wednesday. Standard Liege will take on Zenit Sant Petersburg, Lille will play FC Porto, Maribor will go up against Celtic Glasgow, Alborg will play APOEL Nicosia while Slovan Bratislava will play BATE Borisov.



    On Thursday, two Romanian teams will play in the Europa League playoffs. Petrolul from Ploiesti will take on Dinamo Zagreb, while Astra Giurgiu will play Olympique Lyonnais.



  • Romanian football teams taking part in European competitions

    Romanian football teams taking part in European competitions

    Three Romanian football teams are this week playing in the playoff phase of European football competitions. Steaua Bucharest is tonight playing Ludogoretz Razgrad of Bulgaria in Champions League. The first leg will be played on National Arena Stadium in Bucharest.



    Steaua last week had a resounding 6-nil win against Pandurii Targu Jiu, with all the goals scored by the same player — striker Claudiu Keseru. Moreover, Costel Galca’s trainees have displayed an excellent football over the last few games. Steaua tops the league tables at present with the maximum number of points, 12.



    Steaua’s opponent tonight has been dominating Bulgarian football for the last three years. Last year they reached the Europa League round of 16, after brushing aside such powerful teams as Partizan Belgrad, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb and Lazio Rome. Playing for Ludogoretz is Romanian defender Cosmin Moti.



    On Thursday, another two Romanian teams will fight to secure a place in the Europa League group phase. Petrolul from Ploiesti will play Dinamo Zagreb at home. Petrolul also had a good run this season, with the sole exception of last round’s draw against Rapid Bucharest. On the other hand, Dinamo Zagreb ranks first in Croatia, with the same number of points as Rijeka.



    Also on Thursday, Astra Giurgiu will play Olympiques Lyonnais away from home. For Astra the match against OL will be an opportunity to prove themselves at European level. This year Astra won the Romanian Cup and went on to win the Supercup. They also had a promising start in the domestic league. Last round Astra secured a 2-1 home win over CSMS Iasi, although there is still room for improvement before Thursday’s match in Lyon. As regards OL, the French side is clearly the favourite on Thursday night. In two matches this season OL won against Rennes 2-nil, but lost to Toulouse 1-2.


  • The Athletes of the Week

    The Athletes of the Week

    Romanian canoeists Liviu Dumitrescu and Victor Mihalachi are world champions again. At the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow, the two Romanian canoeists reaped the title in Sunday’s canoe double 1000 m race, setting the pace from the start, being at least one canoe ahead of the silver medallist Hungary. Germany came in third.



    On Saturday, Dumitrescu and Mihalachi had won the silver medal in the 500 m race.



    For those exceptional results, Radio Romania International has designated the two canoeists Athletes of the Week.



    Liviu Dumitrescu was born in Stefesti commune, Prahova County, southern Romania. He made a name for himself in the under 21 competitions and that is why, he started training with the seniors quite fast, obtaining exceptional results.



    Victor Mihalachi was born in Floritoaia Veche commune, the Republic of Moldova, where he achieved the first performances in the under 21 competitions. In 2007, together with Hariton Ivanov, he became world champion in the under 21canoe double 500 m race. In 2009, he got Romanian citizenship.



    Following their victory in Moscow, Dumitrescu and Mihalachi boast 6 medals at the World Championships, of which four gold, one silver and one bronze. Adding up are 10 medals at the European Championships, of which three gold, three silver and four bronze.

  • Romanian teams in European football competitions

    Romanian teams in European football competitions

    We’re in again for an eventful week, when it comes to European football cups fixtures. Competitions have now reached the second leg of the preliminary round, and no less than four Romanian teams are fighting for a position in the playoffs.



    On Thursday, three Romanian teams will be proving their mettle in the Europa League’s third preliminary round.



    In the Czech Republic, starting 6 pm local time, Astra Giurgiu will be playing their return match against Slovan Liberec. In the first leg, the Romanians snatched a 3-nil win, so they should have no problem securing their qualification for the competition’s playoffs. Astra have had an excellent run early into the season, winning all its official games so far, including a win in Romania’s Supercup, when on July 11 Astra outclassed Steaua Bucharest.



    Starting 7.30 pm in the central Transylvanian city of Cluj, the local side CFR will be facing Dinamo Minsk from Belarus. In the first leg and on home turf, Dinamo Minsk managed a 1-nil win. CFR’s lineup however is arguably a better one, as they received no goals in their games counting towards the first two legs in the domestic championship. CFR are in for a hard task, yet they rank as favorites with the bookmakers.



    The other Romanian team fighting for a position in the Europa League, Petrolul from Ploiesti, will be playing their away game against Czech squad Viktoria Plzen, starting 8 pm. Petrolul were held to a 1-all draw in the first leg last week. Former Romanian football legend Adrian Mutu scored his first goal in the European cups in the last five years, which is noteworthy. Mutu also scored in the domestic championship this past Sunday, when Petrolul thrashed FC Botosani, 4-1. No less than one thousand Ploiesti fans will be traveling to the Czech Republic to back their favorite team.

  • Romanian teams in European football competitions

    Romanian teams in European football competitions

    We’re in again for an eventful week, when it comes to European football cups fixtures. Competitions have now reached the second leg of the preliminary round, and no less than four Romanian teams are fighting for a position in the playoffs.



    On Thursday, three Romanian teams will be proving their mettle in the Europa League’s third preliminary round.



    In the Czech Republic, starting 6 pm local time, Astra Giurgiu will be playing their return match against Slovan Liberec. In the first leg, the Romanians snatched a 3-nil win, so they should have no problem securing their qualification for the competition’s playoffs. Astra have had an excellent run early into the season, winning all its official games so far, including a win in Romania’s Supercup, when on July 11 Astra outclassed Steaua Bucharest.



    Starting 7.30 pm in the central Transylvanian city of Cluj, the local side CFR will be facing Dinamo Minsk from Belarus. In the first leg and on home turf, Dinamo Minsk managed a 1-nil win. CFR’s lineup however is arguably a better one, as they received no goals in their games counting towards the first two legs in the domestic championship. CFR are in for a hard task, yet they rank as favorites with the bookmakers.



    The other Romanian team fighting for a position in the Europa League, Petrolul from Ploiesti, will be playing their away game against Czech squad Viktoria Plzen, starting 8 pm. Petrolul were held to a 1-all draw in the first leg last week. Former Romanian football legend Adrian Mutu scored his first goal in the European cups in the last five years, which is noteworthy. Mutu also scored in the domestic championship this past Sunday, when Petrolul thrashed FC Botosani, 4-1. No less than one thousand Ploiesti fans will be traveling to the Czech Republic to back their favorite team.

  • Rower Leon Rotman

    Rower Leon Rotman

    Leon Rotman was born on July 22nd 1934 in Bucharest. He was the fourth child of carpenter Iosif Rotman. When he was 15, as an apprentice with the Timpuri noi factory, Rotman first took up wrestling with the Flacara sports club, where he excelled in the 67-kilogram category.



    In 1952, Rotman discovered the beauty of water sports and joined the Dinamo sports club in Bucharest, which had a strong rowing team. Rotman soon persuaded his coaches that he was perfectly able to take part in single skull competitions. He became Romania’s rowing champion three times and was consequently chosen to form part of the crew representing his country in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.



    In Melbourne, Romanian rowers won three of the four gold medal in canoeing, outshining their contenders from Russia and Hungary, who were dominating world rowing at the time.



    Rotman won his first Olympic gold medal in the 10,000m race. When tested for torsional stiffness, Rotman’s boat was found not to meet current requirements, so he was given another boat. The new boat also had a problem, as it was found to be longer than the approved size. The canoe was then simply cut using a jigsaw. During the race, Rotman proved his incredible talent, outclassing the 10,000m race favourites, Janos Parti and Istvan Hernek from Hungary and Gennady Bukharin from the Soviet Union. Rotman finished almost 80 meters ahead of his runner-up, Janos Parti.



    In the 1,000-meter final, Rotman was thus the favourite. He met all expectations, winning the gold. The silver went to Istvan Hernek and the bronze to Gennady Bukharin, just like in the 10,000-meter race. Romania’s third gold medal in Melbourne came from Alexe Dumitru and Simion Ismailiciuc, who won the double skull 1000m.



    Four years later in the Rome Olympics, Romania’s rowing delegation only won one medal, as Leon Rotman finished third in the single skull 1000m.

  • Romanian Fotball Teams in European Cups

    Romanian Fotball Teams in European Cups

    Four Romanian teams this week will be proving their mettle in the European competitions’ third preliminary round.



    Steaua Bucharest have already set off for Kazakhstan, as on Wednesday they will be taking on Kazakh side Aktobe, in the first leg of the tie that could earn Steaua a place in the Champions League’s playoff session. With Constantin Gilca at the helm, Steaua had a lackluster run earlier this season. Though defeated in the game against Astra Giurgiu in Romania’s Supercup, Steaua won both games against Rapid, snatching a 2-1 win in the League’s Cup and a 3-1 win in the domestic championship’s first leg. However, Steaua failed to live up to their performance in the previous season, probably also because of the significantly thinner lineup in the wake of the summer transfer season.



    Three teams represent Romania in the Europa League’s third preliminary round. Two of them will be playing their games on home turf this coming Thursday. Astra Giurgiu will be taking on Czech side Slovan Liberec. Astra’ s run so far has been excellent: after the win against Steaua in the Supercup, last season’s vice-champions also snatched a valuable 4-1 win against FC Brasov in the League Cup and a 2-nil win against Concordia Chiajna, in a game counting towards the domestic championship’s first leg.



    Southern Romanian team Petrolul from Ploiesti will also be taking on a Czech team, Victoria Plzen, a team that last season had an excellent international run, including a participation in the Champions League’s group stage. The Romanians’ lineup, however, is a strong one, and that is all the more so since it includes one of the best footballers of the last decade, Adrian Mutu. Earlier this season Petrolul suffered a 1-nil defeat against Unversitatea Cluj, in the League Cup, yet they succeeded a 1-nil win against FC Brasov, in a game counting towards the domestic championship’ s first leg.



    CFR Cluj will be traveling to Minsk, in Belarus, to play their first leg against local side Dinamo. CFR also failed to go past the League Cup’s eighth finals, since they were thrashed by CSMS Iasi, 4-2. However, CFR Cluj snatched a precious 4-nil win against Ceahlaul from Piatra Neamt, in the domestic championship’s first leg.





  • A preview of Romanian participation in European football cups

    A preview of Romanian participation in European football cups

    The first Romanian team to fight for a place in the Champions League’s 3rd preliminary round is Steaua Bucharest. In a game venued by the National Arena, Constantin Galca’s trainees will be taking on Norway’s champions Stromsgodset. In last week’s away match in Drammen, Steaua snatched a 1-nil win, with Gabriel Iancu scoring in the very first minutes of the second half.



    Steaua turned out to be the better team on the pitch, yet they failed to live up to the excellent run they had last season, which means manager Galca has a lot more work to do with his trainees. On the other hand, Steaua lacked some of its key footballers, who moved to other clubs, as the transfer season is in full swing. Among them are former captain Mihai Pintillii, goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu, Macedonian defender Daniel Georgievski and Italian striker Federico Piovaccari. Furthermore, Steaua has not yet made any notable transfers to the team.



    If they beat Stormsgodset, Steaua will be taking on the winner of the game between Georgia’s Dinamo Tbilisi and Aktobe from Kazakhstan.



    On Thursday night, two Romanian teams will be playing in Europa League’s second leg, counting towards the competition’s second preliminary round. Petrolul from Ploiesti has sound chances to make headway into the competition, after last week they succeeded a 2-nil home win against Albanian squad Flamurtari Vlora. Scoring for Petrolul were the Dutch Gevaro Nepomuceno on 77 minutes and the Nigerian-born Israeli footballer Toto Tamuz in minute 84.



    Petrolul should have no problem in Albania, since they have a strong lineup, including one of Romania’s best footballers at the moment, Adrian Mutu. If they qualify, Petrolul will be facing Czech side Victoria Plzen, in the 3rd preliminary round.



    The other Romanian team, CFR from Cluj, are faced with a much more difficult job. On Thursday CFR will be taking on Serbian side Jagodina, and the Romanians only managed a blank draw in last week’s home match. However, in the past Cluj proved they could brace up for the crucial games, so the Romanians do stand real chances to make headway into the competition.



    If they win, CFR will be taking on the winner of the game pitting Dinamo Minsk from Belarus against Myllykosken Pallo from Finland.

  • Athlete of the Week on RRI – Simona Halep

    Athlete of the Week on RRI – Simona Halep

    Last week Bucharest played host to the first WTA tournament ever held in Romania, BRD Bucharest Open, totaling 250,000 dollars in prize money. WTA 3rd ranked Simona Halep won the final against second seed Roberta Vinci of Italy, 6-1, 6-3. In the semi-finals, Simona had brushed aside another Romanian, Monica Niculescu, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.



    For her achievement, we have designated Simona Halep Athlete of the Week on Radio Romania International. A week ago she was the recipient of this award for qualifying to the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Wimbledon, a performance unmatched by any other player from Romania.



    At BRD Bucharest Open, Simona knocked out Indy De Vroome in the first round, 6-nil, 6-4. In the second round Simona brushed aside Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia, 6-2, 6-4. In the quarterfinals she took on Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, whom she defeated 6-3, 6-1. The only set she lost in the tournament was against Monica Niculescu of Romania, who told Radio Romania about Simona’s strengths:



    “She’s showing a great display of tennis on court. She has a powerful forehand, and her backhand is also quite impressive. Her service is good, so why shouldn’t she be number 1? She’s playing very well, she is strong-willed. She played the Roland Garros final. I have played in the semi-finals here, and I am already feeling more confident. You can imagine where Simona’s confidence level is after the Roland Garros final and the Wimbledon semi-final”.



    Let us also note that Simona Halep was born on September 27, 1991 in Constanta. She made her debut in professional tennis in 2006, when she played her first matches in the ITF circuit. In 2010 she made it to the world’s Top 100. Her rise in the standings was swift in 2013, when she reported 53 wins and 17 losses, won six WTA tournaments, in Nurnberg, s’Hertogenbosch, Budapest, New Haven, Moscow and Sofia, and grabbed winnings worth 1.2 million dollars. She is currently ranked 3rd in the WTA standings.