Raluca Olaru

Three Romanian tennis players: Irina Begu, Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru advanced to the second round of the women's doubles event at the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, after wins on Thursday in New York. Irina Begu and Andreea Mitu beat the Caroline Garcia (France) / Nadia Podoroska (Argentina) duo 6-4 7-6 (4), in an hour and 45 minutes.

Chairman of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) Mihai Covaliu tells AGERPRES in an interview that he is convinced Romanian athletes will stop in Tokyo the decline in the tally of Olympic medals that started in Sydney 2000. He says that in order to bring joy to Romanians, COSR needs the support of the government and its partners.

Minister of Youth and Sports Eduard Novak told a press conference today that the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) must proceed to the evaluation of the financing provided to female tennis players in recent years in order to determine whether they owe money to the state or not, given their refusal to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

Former tennis player Ilie Nastase declared on Monday that the players that refused to take part in the singles' event of the Tokyo Olympic Games should return the money received from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MTS) and the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) for taking part in several tournaments if they have no reasons, but he mentioned that the players are injured.

Bucharest, June 30 /Agerpres/ - Chairman of the Romanian Tennis Federation (FRT) Ion Tiriac announced on Wednesday that the Monica Niculescu- Raluca Olaru duo will be the only Romanian athletes qualified for the tennis competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games. "Competing for the Romanian tennis in Tokyo will be a women's double, I mean Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru.

Romanian tennis player Raluca Olaru paired up with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok progressed to the women's doubles quarter-finals of the 189,708-euro Bad Homburg Open WTA tournament on Monday after beating Andreea Mitu (Romania)/Oksana Kalashnikova (Georgia) 6-1 6-4. Second-seeded Olaru- Kicenok cruised to victory in 67 minutes.

Former and current Olympic, world and European champions such as Nadia Comaneci, Cristina Neagu, Mihai Covaliu, Gabriela Szabo, Marian Dragulescu, Elizabeta Samara or Ionela Cozmiuc have recently gone public, encouraging Romanians to stay at home and observe the orders of the authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Romania's tennis players Jaqueline Cristian and Irina Bara managed to advance on Sunday to the main draw of the women's singles WTA tournament in Lyon (France), with prizes worth 275,000 US dollars, after their victories in the first round of qualifications. Cristian (aged 21, WTA's 174th) surpassed Belgian Lara Salden (aged 21, WTA's 291st), with a score of 6-3, 6-0, in just 55 minutes.

Romanian weightlifter Raluca Olaru won one gold and two silver medals on Monday in the women's 64 kg class of the sixth edition of the International Solidarity Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a Silver qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, according to the Facebook page of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has climbed one spot advancing to the third position in the world ranking of professional tennis players (Women's Tennis Association - WTA), released on Monday.