Sports Weekend

In the Indian Wells tennis tournament, the Romanian player Sorana Cîrstea, 83rd in the WTA classification, was eliminated by the Polish Iga Swiatek, the world leader, in the quarter finals in two sets, 2-6, 3-6. For her presence in the quarterfinals, Sorana Cîrstea received a check worth 185,000 dollars and 180 WTA points.

Now rugby. The Romanian national rugby team plays the third-place match of the Rugby Europe Championship play-off with Spain on Sunday. The match will take place in Badajoz, Spain. In the final, on the same stadium, Georgia will take on Portugal. In the semifinals, Portugal defeated Spain 27-10, while Georgia defeated Romania 31-7.

We pass on to hadnball. In the Champions League women's handball play-off the Romanian team Rapid Bucharest will play the first leg, away from home, against the Slovenian team Krim Ljubljana for qualification to the quarter-finals. Also in women's handball, in the Europe League quarterfinals, the Romanian team SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea plays the first leg at home against the Danish team NF Handbold.

Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe and FCU Craiova met again in a match remaining from the 23rd stage of the regular football season of the Romanian Super League. The previous match was interrupted in the 26th minute due to xenophobic chants from the Craiova fans. Initially, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe had won 3-0 according to the Federation’s decision, but later the decision was annulled and the final decision was the replay the match. Yesterday, Sepsi crushed FCU Craiova 4-0, and following this result, the team from Sfântu Gheorghe will play in the play-off replacing the defeated team FCU Craiova, who will play in the play-out.

At the weekend, football matches will be played in the two phases of the first league. In the play-off, FCSB will take on CSU Craiova play on Saturday, and on Sunday Farul Constanța will play Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe while CFR Cluj will be up against Rapid Bucharest. Farul and CFR lead the ranking with 32 points each, followed by FCSB with 29 points. The matches FC Voluntari versus FC Hermannstadt, Petrolul Ploiești versus UTA Arad, FC Botoșani versus Chindia Târgoviște, Universitatea Cluj versus FC Argeș, FCU Craiova veruss CS Mioveni will be played in the play-out. (LS)