Romanian table tennis player Bianca Mei-Roşu wins gold at European U21 Championships
Romanian table tennis player Bianca Mei-Roşu won the gold medal on Sunday, June 21, in the women’s singles event at the European U21 Championships in Cluj-Napoca, central Romania.
The 19-year-old Romanian won her first three matches in Group 4, with a score of 3-0, without losing a single set, then won 4-0 in three other matches in the second stage of the groups, to enter the main draw. Afterwards, she defeated Mille Stoffregen (Denmark) 4-2 in the first round, followed by a 4-0 victory against Natalia Bogdanowicz (Poland) in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Bianca secured a 4-2 win against Zuzanna Wielgos (Poland), according to News.ro.
In the final, Bianca Mei-Roşu defeated Slovenia’s Sara Tokic 4-1 and won the gold medal, becoming the European champion.
“Confident in her own strengths and in the game she proposed, the Romanian athlete started the match excellently and won the first two sets. Although the Slovenian player found solutions in the third set, Bianca Mei-Roșu remained focused and managed the decisive moments of the final. The suspense was maintained until the end in the last two sets, but the Romanian had clarity in her shots and security in her arm in the important points, for 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 13-11, 13-11) and the U21 European title,” the Romanian Table Tennis Federation said.
The victory brought Bianca her second European medal, after the silver medal in the women’s doubles event, alongside Ukrainian Veronika Matiunina. The two only lost to the Alexandra Chiriacova (Moldova) / Sara Tokic (Slovenia) pair in the final, 2-3.
Romanian athletes won a total of five medals at the competition held in Cluj-Napoca. Gold medals were won by Bianca Mei-Roșu in the women’s singles event, as well as by the pair Iulian Chirița and Anna Hursey (Wales) in the mixed doubles event.
Silver medals were obtained by Bianca Mei-Roșu and Veronika Matiunina (Ukraine) in the women’s doubles event.
Bronze medals went to Andrei Istrate and Nicole Arlia (Italy) in the mixed doubles event, as well as to Darius Movileanu in the men’s singles event.
(Photo source: Bianca Mei Rosu on Facebook)
