Category: Sport

Two stages of the championships have been held so far, and in some of the events the Romanians’ results exceeded everyone’s expectations.

On January the 18th, Marian Oprea, the hop, step and jump Olympic vice champion in Athens, secured his comeback to competition, after a long absence. His result in the aforementioned competition was a jump of 16 meters and 80 centimeters. In the high jump event, Mihai Donisan equaled his personal record, with a jump of 2 meters and 20 centimeters.

One week later, Marian Oprea succeeded a jump of 17 meters and 17 centimeters, which is the world’ s best indoor performance so far. In the womens version of the hop, step and jump event, Cristina Bujin compelled recognition with a jump of 14 metes and 24 centimeters. Cristina is thus 4th- placed in the event’s world classification, following three athletes from Russia.

On January the 25th, Marian Donisan came on the runner-up position in the high jump competition in Dresden, with a jump of 2 meters and 26 centimeters, being outperformed by the Russian Serghei Mudrov, who succeeded a jump of 2 meters and 29 centimeters. With his jump of 2 meters and 30 centimeters on January the 18th, Donisan is 2nd-placed in the European high-jump classification, being outclassed only by the Russian Alexei Dmitrik, who this past Sunday in Amstadt managed a jump of 2 meters and 36 centimeters.

This coming weekend’s competition in Bucharest is also important for the final lineup teams that will represent Romania at the European Indoor Athletics Championships, to be held in Goteborg, Sweden, between March the 1stand the 3rd.

On January 18th, Marian Oprea, Olympic triple jump vice-champion at the Athens Olympics, returned to the arena with a jump measuring 16 meters and 80 centimeters, a result that he bested a week later by 30 centimeters. In the high jump event, Mihai Donisan matched his personal best, jumping 2 meters and 30 centimeters, while last weekend he pulled the first outstanding performance of the year in international competitions. Donisan ranked 2nd at the Indoor Athletics tournament held in Dresden, Germany, with a jump measuring 2 meters 26 centimeters.

For his exceptional performance we have designated Mihai Donisan athlete of the week on RRI.

At the 2011 Indoor Athletics tournament of New York Mihai Donisan succeeded a jump of 2 meters and 30 centimeters and was already seen as one of the favourites to climb onto the podium at the 2012 London Olympics. Donisan however failed to meet the qualification mark. If Donisan had made it to the London Olympics, his 2 meter and 30 centimeters jump would have secured him the bronze medal.

Now that he has matched his personal best and become the continental leader in the high jump event, Mihai Donisan stands goods chances of grabbing a medal at the forthcoming European Indoor Athletics Championships in March. His coach Vali Ionescu, a former long jump Olympic vice-champion, told us things were a bit complicated:

Vali Ionescu: “Donisan is now part of a firefighter brigade. We are undertaking moves for having him transferred to the Dinamo sports club. Should this move fall through, at 8 in the morning on Monday Mihai needs to join his unit and work one-day shifts with 48 hours off in between. You can’t call yourself a medal contender with such working hours”.

Mihai Donisan has repeatedly said he is not willing to give up his job as a firefighter. In the end it is up to the leaders of Romanian sports and Sports Ministry officials to come up with a solution so as to allow this talented athlete to pursue his own path to success.

Unfortunately, athletes representing Romania in this prestigious tennis competition didn’t live up to expectations. The best performance was put on by 27thseed Sorana Carstea, who lost in the third round to 6thseed Li Na from China, 4-6 and 1-6.

In the men’s singles competition, both our representatives Victor Hanescu and Adrian Ungur were edged out in the very first round.

The Romanian fans were hoping their favourites would cut a better figure in the doubles matches. But they were also in for another disappointment when the fourth-seeded Romanian-Bielorussian pair Tecau-Mirnîiwas stopped in its tracks in the second round. In the mixed double event Tecau paired with Bethanie Mattek Sands with whom he won last year’s finals. However, this time they weren’t even able to make it to the second round of the competition. The best performance in the doubles belonged to Monica Niculescu and Camelia Begu, who went as far as the eighth finals.

We have to admit that along the years the Australian Open has not been to the liking of Romanian tennis players. The best shows in Melbourne were put on by Virginia Ruzici and Irina Sparlea; the former got as far as the competition’s quarterfinals in 1980, when she admitted defeat to Hana Mandlikova, from the Czech Republic, who eventually walked away with the trophy.

17 years later Sparlea was edged out also in the quarters by Swiss challenger Martina Hingis, who later clinched the trophy.

In the men’s competitions, Andrei Pavel qualified for the eighth finals twice; in 1999, when he lost to Russian Evgheni Kafelnikov and in 2004, when he admitted defeat to Juan Carlos Ferrero.

But the best Romanian performance in the Australian Open was obtained by Horia Tecau, who together with Bethanie Mattek Sands last year secured the title in the mixed double event.

Not all Romania’s top-notch athletes took part in the competition, since such runners as Angela Morosanu, Mirela Lavric and Ancuta Bobocel are still undergoing their specific winter training.

The season may still be in its early days, yet a string of athletes had time to prove themselves, putting on remarkable performances. Worth mentioning here is the hop, step and jump athlete Marian Oprea’s performance. He had a bracing comeback to the competition season with a jump of 18 meters and 80 centimeters. For the early 2013, it is a remarkable performance, which prompted Radio Romania International to designate Marian Oprea the Athlete of the Week.

Marian Oprea was born in Pitesti, Southern Romania,on June 6, 1982. In 2000 he became juniors’ Olympic champion in Santiago de Chile. In 2002 Marian Oprea walked home with a silver medal he had won at the European Indoor Championships in Vienna. Yet the peak of his career was marked by the runner-up position Marian Oprea snatched at the Athens Olympics in 2004, when the Romanian managed a jump of 17 meters and 55 centimeters. Marian maintained his position among Europe’s and the world’s best athletes, although he sustained quite a few injuries throughout the years. His most recent notable performance occurred in 2011, when Marian Oprea walked away with silver at the European Indoor Championships in Paris.

Because of a health problem, Marian Oprea failed to participate in the London Olympics last summer. He will come back to the top-flight international competitions in March at the European Indoor Championships in Goteborg, Sweden.

Worth mentioning at this point is the fact that this week, again on Friday and Saturday, the second leg of the National Indoor Athletics Championships is scheduled.

The European inter-club competitions are in full swing. Only one team represents Romania in the AMLIN Challenge Cup, where the Bucharest Wolves are playing in Pool 4. One leg ahead of the competition’s final stage, the “ Wolves” are third-placed in the group, with 9 points on their record sheet. French side Agen are on the second position with 13 points, while Cammi Rugby Calvisano from Italy are fourth-placed with only 7 points.

Worth mentioning at this point is that the “Wolves” have succeeded to win two of the five games they have played so far. In October 2012 the Wolves thrashed Calvisano 42 to 27, while in December 2012 they managed a hard-fought 25- to 22 win, in a game where they had three successful tries.

This coming Saturday, in the last game of the group stage, the team from Bucharest will travel to the southern English city of Bath to take on the group’s powerful leader, which are a win-all team so far.

In their first 2013 game scheduled on February the 2nd, Romania’s national rugby team will take on the team of Portugal in Lisbon. Then on February the 9th Bucharest’s Triumphal Arch Stadium will host Romania’s game against Russia.

On February the 23rd in the Spanish city of Gijon, Romania’ national team will be taking on the team of Spain, while on March the 9th in Brussels the Romanians will go against Belgium. Romania’s last game in the European Cup of Nations will be the one against the team of Georgia, on March 16 in Bucharest.

The Romanian Rugby Federation’s website has announced that on June the 1st 2013 in Bucharest the Romanian national rugby team will play a training game against England Counties. Then between June the 7th and the 22nd, the Romanian national squad will play its games counting towards an international training tournament that the International Rugby Board will be organizing in Bucharest.

Last weekend saw the close of the last fencing tournament in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. The tournament was held in Bratislava, the capital-city of Slovakia, and brought together some of the leading figures in European fencing. The fencers that jumped at the opportunity to secure their presence at the London Olympics included twice Olympic champion Laura Flessel-Colovic, aged 40. She will be the only fencer to represent France at this year’s Olympic Games, given that the French team have failed to qualify.

The Bratislava competition also spelled qualification for two Romanian fencers: Radu Daraban in the men’s foil event and Bianca Pascu in the women’s sabre event. In the knock-out phase Daraban eased past Alexander Choupenitch of the Czech Republic, 15-14 before brushing aside Gael Santos of Portugal in the semifinals, final score 15-8.

On the other hand, Bianca Pascu defeated Araceli Navarro of Spain in the final event by 15 to 11. Another two Romanian fencers failed to qualify. In the women’s foil competition, Cristina Ghita lost 10-6 to Natalia Sheppard of the UK. Ghita had previously outplayed Debora Nogueria of Portugal, 15-12 and Maria Marino of Spain, 15-6. In the men’s epee event, Adrian Pop was knocked out in the first round by Artiom Ceartovici of Belarus, 15-12.

For their performances, we have designated Radu Daraban and Bianca Pascu athletes of the week on RRI.

It is also worth noting that Romania has already secured its presence at the London Olympics in the men’s sabre team and women’s epee team events. All fencers part of national teams are allowed to enter individual competitions as well.

Small wonder then that Romania’s first medal in an individual event was scooped in horse racing. Saying it was an individual event is just one way of looking at it: the success equally goes to the rider and the horse, and it is really hard to tell which of the two is more important, the animal’s talent or the mastery of the one riding it.





The medal – winning couple was made of cavalry lieutenant Henri Rang and the horse Delfis. In 1936 at the Berlin Olympics the two came on runner-up position in the steeplechase event.





Rang and Delfis had made an excellent progress in the competition. However, they had to compete in the playoffs against German lieutenant Kurt Hasse, who was riding Tora. And from here, tales vary according to their source. Were we to give credit to the Sports Gazette of that time, Tora was the first to start its race. At the last hurdle, however, Tora failed to ride over and ended its route with a penalty. It was now time for the Romanian stallion to take an elegant start. Delfis speedily jumped over the first hurdles, and that brought the German audience to a standstill. The prospect of gold was growing ever more distant. Yet ahead of the last hurdle, the most difficult one, the one Tora had failed to ride past, Delfis would also touch the upper beam, which was also a penalty for the Romanian horse. The German public burst with joy, and their joy was complete when the speaker announced lieutenant Hasse’s success on account of a shorter timing during the route.





Little is known about lieutenant Henri Rang. He was born in 1902. Rang was part of Romanian golden generation of horse riding, where the most popular name was that of Felix Topescu. Rang participated in the top-flight international competitions until the breakout of World War II. He died an untimely death in 1946, when he was only 44.

Last weekend saw the close of the last fencing tournament in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. The tournament was held in Bratislava, the capital-city of Slovakia, and brought together some of the leading figures in European fencing. The fencers that jumped at the opportunity to secure their presence at the London Olympics included twice Olympic champion Laura Flessel-Colovic, aged 40. She will be the only fencer to represent France at this year’s Olympic Games, given that the French team have failed to qualify.

The Bratislava competition also spelled qualification for two Romanian fencers: Radu Daraban in the men’s foil event and Bianca Pascu in the women’s sabre event. In the knock-out phase Daraban eased past Alexander Choupenitch of the Czech Republic, 15-14 before brushing aside Gael Santos of Portugal in the semifinals, final score 15-8.

On the other hand, Bianca Pascu defeated Araceli Navarro of Spain in the final event by 15 to 11. Another two Romanian fencers failed to qualify. In the women’s foil competition, Cristina Ghita lost 10-6 to Natalia Sheppard of the UK. Ghita had previously outplayed Debora Nogueria of Portugal, 15-12 and Maria Marino of Spain, 15-6. In the men’s epee event, Adrian Pop was knocked out in the first round by Artiom Ceartovici of Belarus, 15-12.

For their performances, we have designated Radu Daraban and Bianca Pascu athletes of the week on RRI.

It is also worth noting that Romania has already secured its presence at the London Olympics in the men’s sabre team and women’s epee team events. All fencers part of national teams are allowed to enter individual competitions as well.