DEBRECEN, Hungary - Romanian favourite Marian Dragulescu’s sensational tumbling skills landed him the gold medal at the gymnastics world championships on Saturday. Having watched all his challengers go before him, the defending champion destroyed the opposition from the moment he opened his routine with a full twisting punched front somersault. Dragulescu, who shared the gold with Bulgaria’s Jordan Jovtchev in Ghent 12 months ago, punched the air when he completed his final tumble and was awarded a 9.712. Spaniard Gervasio Deferr claimed the silver while Jovtchev was forced to settle for a bronze after failing to land his final somersault cleanly.
Raducan delays retirement
Olympic champion Andreea Raducan’s gymnastics career ended in disappointment on Friday when she fell off the balance beam during the semi-finals at the world championships. The Romanian, who gained worldwide sympathy when she was stripped of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games all-round gold for failing a...

The failed start in EURO 2012 qualifiers, 1-1 against Albania, and below-expectations playing by the team has made Razvan Lucescu’s (photo) tenure with the squad rather uncertain, with Gica Hagi, Ladislau Boloni or Dan Petrescu being the names circulated as his possible replacements, according to Hotnews. Officials at the Romanian Football Association (FRF) declared themselves unhappy with the team’s performance lately, with Razvan Lucescu’s replacement becoming increasingly likely. “It is difficult to qualify, I’ve said it before! This evening (Friday, e.n.) in the match against Albania, Romanian players were breathing hard on the field,’ FRF head Mircea Sandu said after the Albania game. Hagi, Boloni and Dan Petrescu have already been put on the replacement coach list. Hagi coached the national team before, yet for a short while, and Gica now needs to show what he is really up to.

Dan Petrescu is another name on the list. A former international player, he proved, while...

Andy Murray hobbled out of the U.S. Open on Sunday, beaten 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-3 in the third round by Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka after his ailing body let him down.

Struggling to run at full speed after requiring treatment to his legs, elbow and neck, Murray appeared powerless to stop Wawrinka, who was battling his own injury problems but still played superbly, from pulling off the biggest upset of the championship.

Wawrinka, seeded 25th, advanced to play Sam Querrey, the only American left in the men’s competition, in the fourth round although the big winner could well be Rafa Nadal, who was drawn to face Murray in the semi-finals.

Nadal, playing before Murray’s defeat, sent an ominous warning to his rivals about his intentions to win the U.S. Open and complete his collection of grand slam titles.

The Spaniard, getting better with each match on the back of a new and improved serve, overpowered France’s Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4 6-2 to steam into the...

MotoGP is looking to develop improved body protection for riders to help them survive the kind of accident that has killed two teenagers on successive race weekends. Nineteen-year-old Japanese Shoya Tomizawa, a rising talent who won this year’s first Moto2 race, died in Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix after he fell and was hit at around 240kph by other riders close behind.

Only a week before, 13-year-old American Peter Lenz had died in similar circumstances in a support race at the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

“We can say that what happened was nothing to do with safety,” MotoGP safety delegate Franco Uncini told a news conference after the accident at Misano left the sport in mourning.

“These kinds of injuries unfortunately could happen at any time.

“With the technology we have at this moment it’s very difficult to solve this problem but we are trying to work on this and trying to have something that in the future will help us have less damage in this...

Romania to play against Turkey or Macedonia for 7th-10th EC polo ranking

Romania’s water polo team will take on the national squad of Turkey or Macedonia for the slots 7th-10th at the European Polo Championship in Zagreb. Romanians finished bottom of group A, missing out Sunday on qualifying into the quarter-finals of the European competition, despite drawing 9-9 with reigning European champions Montenegro. Romania have to wait for the outcome of the first encounters in the 7th-12th ranking tournament, as they will play opposite the winner of Thursday’s Turkey-Macedonia match.

Europe wins first Continental Cup athletic meeting

Europe has won the first Continental Cup in Athletics in Split Sunday, on 429 points, against America’s 419.5 points, with Romania’s Marian Oprea winning the triple jump event, AFP reports. Africa came third, on 292 points, and Asia/Pacific fourth respectively, on 286.5 points. The Continental Cup is the ‘successor’ of...

Romania had a poor start in the EURO 2012 qualifiers on Friday, managing only a tie at home against Albania, score 1-1, after a lackluster game that it dominated despite failing to win all three points put up for grabs. Razvan Lucescu’s team opened the score in the 80th minute after a corner kick. The ball, headed by Gabi Muresan, was pushed just below the crossbar by Bogdan Stancu. The Romanian team immediately and unexpectedly shut itself up in the defence in order to protect its lead but the Albanian team equalized just two minutes before the final whistle after a series of errors made by Romanian defenders.

After the game the Romanian fans chanted “resign, resign” for minutes on end, asking for head coach Razvan Lucescu to be sacked.

“We are disappointed and we are the first to suffer for this unfair and unpleasant result. I cannot reproach the players from the point of view of their ambition and attitude. Chivu always means a lot for the national team; there...

NEW YORK - The man for all occasions, Roger Federer provided a masterful demonstration of skill and precision in gale-force winds to breeze into the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Saturday. On a day when the swirling gusts teased and tormented the world’s best players, the Swiss master showed exactly how and why he has been able to overcome the obstacles to win 16 grand slam titles on all surfaces and conditions in beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-3 6-3.

The lone major casualty was Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, a finalist in New York two years ago and the fourth seed this time. She was beaten 6-2 7-6 by Kaia Kanepi of Estonia after enduring the worst of the conditions. On one of her serves, Jankovic only managed to catch the ball with the frame of her racket.

If you blinked, you might have missed it but Rafa Nadal gave the tennis world another look at the weapon he hopes will help him win the U.S. Open and complete his collection of grand slam titles. Playing...

Friendly: Rapid 1 – Shakhtar Donetsk 2

Shakhtar Donetsk, coached by Mircea Lucescu, defeated Rapid Bucharest on Saturday in a friendly game on Bucharest’s ‘Giulesti – Valentin Stanescu’ stadium, score 2-1 (0-1 at half time). This was the fifth game that the teams have played against one another, their only official game taking place in the 2005/2006 edition of the UEFA Cup groups’ stage, back when Rapid won in Donetsk, score 1-0. It was a historic game given the fact that it pitted father (Shakhtar’s head coach Mircea Lucescu) against son (Rapid’s head coach Razvan Lucescu).

U-21: Romania 3 – Russia 0

Romania’s U-21 national football team has qualified for the playoff counting for the U-21 European Championship 2011 after defeating Russia, score 3-0 (2-0) on Friday in Botosani in the last but one game in qualifiers Group 1. The goals scored by Eric Bicfalvi (27th minute), Sabrin Sburlea (37th minute) and Ioan Hora (86th minute) gave Romania a...

Despite the many players injured, the absence of such staple players as Chivu and Mutu and the poor results as of late, national football team players are still optimistic before Friday’s encounter against Albania, in Piatra Neamt, Friday, the first fixture in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2012.

Striker Ciprian Marica of VfB Stuttgart is of the view that the matches against Albania, and Belarus, next week, must bring the maximum of points possible to the national team. “We owe it to our fans and to us as well,” Marica said. Shakhtar Donetsk defender Razvan Rat believes that Albania might create problems, given they are “an unpredictable and ambitious team, although, on paper, they might look as an easy opponent. This means we are not going to take victory for granted. Any defeat, especially at home, may take us out of the cards.”

Despite having been rather reserved about team Romania’s chances to qualify, considering that both France and Bosnia Herzegovina have...

NEW YORK - Andy Murray sent an ominous warning to his U.S. Open rivals when he breezed through his first match at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday before home hope Andy Roddick made an undignified exit in the last match of the day.

In the women’s draw, former champions Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams dazzled their opponents and charmed the crowds after Victoria Azarenka had sent a shiver through the tennis world when she fainted on court. Roddick was outplayed by unseeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic but his 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6 defeat was reduced to a footnote after the ninth seed’s churlish rant with a line judge over a footfault that had no bearing on the result.

“In hindsight, did I let it go too far? Yeah, probably,” Roddick later admitted. Much earlier in the day, it was a tumble on one of the outside courts that sent pulses racing at the year’s last grand slam.

Azarenka, in a black dress and playing when temperatures were at their hottest, was rushed to hospital...

Football: Boloni sacked from Al Wahda?

Emirates Al Wahda’s head coach, Romanian Laszlo Boloni, was sacked late on Wednesday night after leading his team to their first victory in the UAE Pro-League (UFL) beating Al Ittihad 3-1, gulfnews.com informs. Al Wahda was reported to have signed a contract with Brazilian coach Tite, the former coach of Al Ain, who is expected to arrive in Abu Dhabi to finish the negotiations. The news came after the same source earlier, quoting Al Wahda’s team manager Khalid Awad, denied that newly appointed Laszlo Boloni is to become the first managerial casualty of the Etisalat Pro League. Boloni lost the Super Cup in a shock defeat to newly relegated Emirates 3-1 and fell to a 2-0 defeat in the league opener against Al Wasl, both within the last fortnight.

Hagi thrilled with charity game

Former Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi expressed his satisfaction with the charity game organised in order to collect funds...

Ahead of its game against Romania, a game scheduled on Friday in Piatra Neamt and counting for the EURO qualifiers, Albania’s sports press published several statements made by Albanian players that want to take advantage of the bad period Romania is going through in order to deliver the big surprise.

“There is a good atmosphere within the team and I am convinced that we will give everything on the pitch and we will be able to deliver the big surprise at Piatra Neamt,” Andi Lila (SK Tirana) stated for ‘Albania Sport,’ being quoted by Mediafax. “We have to focus only on our issues, not on those of our opponents. We know that Chivu, one of the world’s biggest players, will not play, but one player does not make a whole team. We want to play as best we can against Romania and we hope we will return with a positive result,” striker Hamdi Salihi (Rapid Vienna) stated. Meanwhile, Romania head coach Razvan Lucescu’s problems continue. He was forced to urgently summon Rapid’s Marius...

NEW YORK - Rafa Nadal made a smooth start to his bid to capture the one grand slam that has eluded him when he wore down Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6 7-6 6-3 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday.

Dressed menacingly in an all black outfit, Nadal had to dig deep to see off the stubborn Gabashvili after three hours of intense shotmaking from both men at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Neither player dropped serve in the opening two sets but Nadal’s superior big-match experience came through when it mattered and he won both tiebreakers before Gabashvili finally cracked in the third set. “I prefer to play one hour and 10 minutes,” Nadal said. “Everybody wants to win easier. “(When) you play against (lower-ranked) players they don’t have much to lose, so they play aggressive. I had a difficult match, but I think I did play well.” Nadal’s straight sets win capped another dramatic day when most of the results went according to the script but not before some brutal...

All but two of FC Vaslui’s players boycotted the team’s morning training session on Wednesday, under the pretext that club owner Adrian Porumboiu gave them several days of holiday. Porumboiu is displeased with head coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro’s performance, the team being 14th in the standings with only 5 points in 6 games, but hesitates sacking him. FC Vaslui finished last season on a prestigious 3rd place. “Let it be clear, contrary to all rumours I have not given up coaching the team. I am not giving up and I want to be allowed to do my job,” Caro stated for Mediafax.

On the other hand, Unirea Urziceni, the team that won the title two years ago and 8 points in the Champions League groups’ stage, is rudderless. Club owner Dumitru Bucsaru signed on Tuesday what is basically the team’s death certificate, allowing all players to leave the team free of contract. Invoking financial difficulties, Bucsaru would have liked to pull the team out of League I, but in that case he...

NEW YORK - Roger Federer served notice he was still a powerhouse at the U.S. Open and punctuated his performance with another sensational shot for the ages in a first-round rout over Argentine Brian Dabul on Monday.

Federer, whose run of five successive U.S. titles was snapped last year in a five-set final against Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, closed the opening day’s action with a 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory on Arthur Ashe center court.

The Swiss maestro turned master showman when he reprised the between-the-legs winner he hit last year in the semi-finals against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic with an equally spectacular between-the-legs winner that left Dabul stunned on the other side of the net late in the second set. “I’ve only hit a few in my life and two on center court in night session play here in New York,” the second-seeded Federer said in an on-court interview. “It’s amazing to share this moment with you guys. Thanks for the ovation and I love it.” Federer blasted 18...

ANKARA – Leandro Barbosa’s potential game-tying lay-up caught the rim but didn’t go down as the USA survived to beat Brazil 70-68 in a memorable game at Abdi Ipekci Arena on Monday, fiba.com informs.

Marcelo Huertas was fouled in the final seconds, but his first free-throw was short. He missed the second one intentionally and chased the ball down before passing to Barbosa under the basket who shot it high off the backboard and saw his effort hit the rim only to stay out. The USA did enough to maintain a perfect record (3-0) as they barely passed their first real test at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

In Kayseri, Serbia improved to 2-1 by crushing Jordan 112-69 as team captain Milos Teodosic returned to the line-up and made his presence felt right away, helping his team take a 33-20 first quarter lead to never look back.

Back in Istanbul, Slovenia used a strong second half and some balanced scoring to overcome an early eight-point deficit and see off...

Hagi and Popescu to play again in charity game

The ‘Teodora Georgescu’ foundation is organising on Wednesday evening on Dinamo stadium a charity game between a team made up of Romanian football legends (including Hagi, Gica Popescu, Andone and Adrian Ilie) and a team made up of artists. The funds collected will be donated to the Bucharest-based ‘Marie Curie’ Pediatric Hospital. “When we’re talking about children we should all show sensitivity. Especially when talking about children with problems. We are here to bring into the limelight three important state sectors: health, culture and education. Society, Romania’s future, means investing in children,” Gheorghe Hagi stated before the game. Among others, the artists’ team will include Serban Huidu, Mihai Gainusa, Emil Gradinescu, Robert Turcescu and Virgil Iantu. The team’s goalkeeper will be former Romanian international Florin Prunea.

League I: Victoria Branesti 1 – Astra Ploiesti 1

Victoria...

Romania defeated Spain (world runner-up) on Monday, score 11-10, in its second Group A game at the European Water Polo Championship in Zagreb, Croatia. It was a resounding success against one of the strongest teams in the world. Romania defeat Turkey in its first group game, score 12-6.

Spain had defeated Romania at the World Cup in Oradea, score 14-8.

Things were different on Monday when Romania won a fairly balanced game. By defeating Spain (2-1, 3-2, 3-5, 3-2) Romania chalked up its second win at the European Championships in Croatia. This was Spain’s second defeat in the tournament after previously losing to Italy, score 6-7.

“We lost the last two games against Spain but today (Monday – editor’s note) things were different. We were far more focused and we were also lucky. We won both of our group games but we still have a lot of work to do,” Ladislav Balanov, Romania’s assistant coach, stated for the tournament’s official website.

Romania...

Steaua Bucharest drew against FC Timisoara at home on Sunday evening but the result was enough to put Steaua at the top of the League I standings for the first time in well over two years. Ilie Dumitrescu’s players did well in the first half, having numerous opportunities, but opened the score 8 minutes after the start of the second half. Bogdan Stancu executed a free kick, his shot shook the post and Pacuraru pounced on the rebound from outside the box, his long-range effort finding the net. After scoring Steaua’s players showed signs of fatigue, with Timisoara starting to have important opportunities. Cosmin Contra equalised in the 80th minute. The fullback took advantage of Steaua goalkeeper Tatarusanu’s erroneous placement on the goal line and scored from a free kick. “It was a veritable game. Both teams had very difficult games in the European Cups. We came back into the game towards the end, it’s a pity we didn’t play like that from the start,” FC Timisoara head coach Vladimir...

Turkey stayed undefeated on Day 2 of the 2010 FIBA World Championship by beating Russia 65-56. In front of a 10,000 strong crowd packed in Ankara Arena – including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan – Bogdan Tanjevic’s side suffocated Russia defensively and got a huge boost from Hedo Turkoglu, who broke out of a shooting slump to hit key baskets down the stretch to stay atop Group C. In Kayseri, Germany caused quite a surprise as they outlasted Serbia 82-81 in a thrilling encounter that went into double overtime. Serb Aleksandar Radic hit two three-pointers in the closing seconds of regulation to force the first extra session and Kosta Perovic’s free-throw with just over a minute left in the first additional period was enough to force the second one. Germany’s Jan Jagla made an unbelievable off balance three-pointer and Dirk Bauermann’s men held on to win by the slimmest of...

Tour of Spain leader Mark Cavendish, battling with bouts of sickness, suffered a surprise defeat in Sunday’s sprint finish in Marbella when he was beaten by Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus. Widely rated the best sprinter in the world, Cavendish retained the race leader’s red jersey but was unable to stop the FDJ rider claiming the stage by half a wheel. American Tyler Farrar was third. Hutarovich’s victory came on a day of intense heat, with temperatures peaking in the mid-thirties Celsius as the riders made their way over the exposed high sierras of Ronda in southern Andalusia. The Tour of Spain ends on September 19 in...