Star Cristina Neagu shines as Romania reach best four women’s handball teams in the world

Romania’s Cristina Neagu, voted the World’s Handball Player of the Year in 2010, has managed to come back after two serious injuries, and reached top shape again at the World Championship in Denmark, where she was decisive in taking Romania to the semifinals. Cristina Neagu was the best player on the court in Romania’s dramatic match against Denmark on Wednesday, December 16, scoring 15 of her team’s 31 goals. Romania beat Denmark 31-30 after overtime. Neagu could have closed the match in the final seconds of the regular time when she missed a penalty throw. However, no one will hold that against her as she managed to score so many goals, despite the Danish team’s efforts to stop her. After seven matches, Cristina Neagu is second in the tournament’s top scorers’ ranking, with 45 goals, almost a quarter of the 206 goals Romania have scored in the competition. Neagu, 27, started her career in Romania, at Rulmentul Brasov, but had her best period at Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea, which used to be the country’s number one team, before the chemical plant that sponsored it went into insolvency. In 2010, she led Romania to their best performance in the last ten years, third place at the European Championship. She was the tournament’s top scorer and also had the most assists. She was then out of the game for more than a year and a half, in 2010-2011, due to a shoulder injury. In January 2013, she suffered a knee injury, which also kept her on the side for six months. Despite these problems, she managed to recover each time. Starting 2013, she has been playing for ŽRK Budućnost, the Montenegro’s top handball team. She led her team to win the Women's EHF Champions League this year, and was the competition’s top goalscorer, with 102 goals. Romanian named world’s second best handball player in 2014 editor@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Cristina Neagu on Facebook)