Romanian athletes shine at rowing, table tennis championships
<p>Romania secured first place in the nations' ranking at the Under-23 European Rowing Championships after its athletes won an impressive nine gold medals. Meanwhile, Romanian athletes also earned eight medals at the Senior Table Tennis Championships.</p>
<p>The rowing competition took place in Edirne, Turkey. In total, Romania participated with 14 teams, marking a dominant performance at the event, according to <a href="https://www.agerpres.ro/sport-extern/2024/09/08/canotaj-romania-a-cucerit-noua-medalii-de-aur-la-europenele-under-23--1351491">Agerpres</a>. The teams competed in:</p>
<ul>
<li>Women's Coxed Four: The team (Delia Mirabela Grădinăciuc, Iuliana Isabela Boldea, Estera Vîlceanu, Larisa Bogdan, Rucsandra-Ioana Bucșa) won gold with a time of 07:16.35, finishing well ahead of Italy (07:22.12).</li>
<li>Men's Coxed Four: The men's team (Cristian-Vasile Nicoară, Ionuț Pavel, Andrei Vatamaniuc, Sergiu Anfimov, Maria-Antonia Iancu) claimed victory in a tight race with a time of 06:23.40, narrowly beating Denmark (06:25.84).</li>
<li>Men's Pair: Andrei Mândrilă and Leontin Nuțescu won by a small margin (06:36.63) against the Belarus team (06:37.99).</li>
<li>Women's Pair: Daria-Ioana Dinulescu and Georgiana Blănariu dominated their race with a time of 07:24.39, beating Poland (07:34.12).</li>
<li>Women's Four: Beatrice Piseru, Denisa Cristina Ailincăi, Petruța-Ionela Popa, and Georgelia Stoica secured gold in 06:52.92, finishing ahead of Poland (06:54.89).</li>
<li>Women's Double Sculls: Andrada Maria Moroșanu and Iulia Bălăucă comfortably won with a time of 07:04.35, defeating Poland (07:10.78).</li>
<li>Women's Quadruple Sculls: Romania (Mariana-Laura Dumitru, Manuela-Gabriela Lungu, Emanuela Ioana Ciotău, Patricia Cireș) clinched victory with a time of 06:39.35, edging out Poland (06:41.27).</li>
<li>Men's Eight with Coxswain: Romania's team (Costi-Daniel Neagoe, Andrei Hemen, Cristian-Vasile Nicoară, Ionuț Pavel, Andrei Vatamaniuc, Sergiu Anfimov, Andrei Mândrilă, Leontin Nuțescu, Maria-Antonia Iancu) finished in 05:44.15, three seconds ahead of Turkey (05:47.24).</li>
<li>Women's Eight with Coxswain: Romania's team (Daria-Ioana Dinulescu, Andreea Nicoleta Dinu, Ana-Maria Mătran, Larisa Bogdan, Delia Mirabela Grădinăciuc, Georgiana Blănariu, Estera Vîlceanu, Elena-Diana Suta, Rucsandra-Ioana Bucșa) won decisively in 06:34.68, well ahead of Ukraine (06:46.15).</li>
</ul>
<p>In the women’s single sculls, Bianca Camelia Ifteni just missed the bronze, finishing fourth, behind rowers from Switzerland, Russia, and Greece. In the men’s four event, the Romanian team finished last.</p>
<p>Romanian athletes also won eight medals at the Balkan Senior Table Tennis Championships, held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two of the medals earned are gold, in women’s team and men’s double events.</p>
<p><em><a href="mailto:radu@romania-insider.com">radu@romania-insider.com</a></em></p>
<p><em>(Photo source: Federatia Romana de Tenis de Masa, Federatia Romana de Canotaj on Facebook)</em></p>