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“The most beautiful weekend of my life”, that’s how one of the participants described the Intersport Streetball Weekend Bucharest’ third day of competition.
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As was natural, since the early hours of basketball, fans came to George Enescu Square and began to heat up the courts. Already the cozy square in front of the Athenaeum became a pilgrimage site, where dozens of players from First Division offered a hell of a show. Octavian Popa Calota, Matei Nuna, Aurel Urucatu, Andrei Vizitiu, Bogdan Stancut, Gabriel Tudosa, Bogdan Amariucai, young national players Vlad Stoicoviciu, Georgian Paun and Andrei Damian, Romina Philip, Alexandra Florea, Radu Paliciuc and many others have stepped on the playgrounds made by FIBA Europe and showed all what they know, without any second to spare. Spectacular dribbles, penetration in high-speed, slam dunks effects, and many other quality executions were seen in Bucharest Streetball Weekend (May Edition 2012).
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Of course, there were artistic moments, Stereo Dance, Block Buster’s Crew and Mini Block Busters raising the standing assistance. Also, the games were held by National University Championship Basketball 3x3 teams from Timisoara, Galati and Oradea, fighting for a place in the big final.
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Even if clouds threatened the Capital again,the games were held smoothly in the morning. At around 18:00 the organizers decided to stop the parties from the easy-easy rain which began to shower.
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The first tournament at Sport Arena Streetball 2012 had all: rain, records, stars, a book launch, more matches on the edge, especially at +18 years category, the end of this season which will provide a representative from Romania to FIBA World Tour Madrid, with the possibility for the final world qualifying in Miami.
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National Women’s U18, preparing for the world championship! Romania’s national women’s U18 category team, who is preparing for the World Basketball Championships 3 × 3 for juniors, attended the Sport Arena Streetball. Trained by the former glory of the Romanian national team Svetlana Dragusin, the girls were divided into two teams that eventually reached the final duel. Bianca Blanaru, Hanna Demeter, Izabella Lovasz, Alexandra Dumitrache, which means the team “ Chicas mas bellas “ won against “Asta la vista baby “, composed by Vanesa Lache, Iulia Raileanu, Denisa Molnar.
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“According to FIBA regulations for 3 × 3 basketball, a team participating in the World Championship must play at least one tournament approved by FIBA before the competition which is in Spain. So I chose Sport Arena Streetball, which, this year, is part of the FIBA World Tour, “said Svetlana Dragusin.
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Sport Arena Streetball 1st Tournament of 2012 was carefully monitored by two representatives of the Greek Basketball Federation, which will host the World Basketball Championships August 3 Ă— 3 for seniors and women seniors.
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The tournament in Bucharest will serve as a model in terms of organization and logistics for the major world competition, Sport Arena Streetball being considered by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) one of the pillars of development in the Romanian sport.
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Stelea made a show at the celebrity game!
Bogdan Stelea, former goalkeeper of the National Romanian Football Team, has fully proved the basketball skills in an exhibition match at Sport Arena Streetball. Once an exceptional charge parades guardian angel in a position of national team in European and World championships, Stelea had an opposite role in the match at Sport Arena Streetball stars,
that of the pure-blood marker. “Arnold� marked basket after basket for the team also included Virgil Stanescu, former captain of the basketball national team of Romania and Hristu Sapera, the youngest coach in First Basketball Division. The match was refereed by Ciprian Sora, former Thai Boxing champion and European champion kickboxing.
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On the other side was a Romanian basketball legend’s team composed of Dragusin Svetlana, Vinereanu Sandu and Pogonaru Valentin, with whom joined Sandulache Stefan, one of the oldest friends of Sport Arena Streetball and General Secretary National Agency for Youth and Sport.
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New talents emerge!
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Dani Popescu (right) trying to take control of the ball from his opponent in the +18 Final
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WINNERS Sport Arena Streetball 2012 - Tour 1: -35 years male: Mozzart (Bogdan Amariucai, Mihai Iosif, Cristian Savuica, Jovan Cirovic) -18 years female: Pufosheniile Brenntag (Svetlana Dragusin, Andreea Romina Filip, Ana-Cristina Anutei, Marta Fodor) -18 years male: Fine Irony (Dani Popescu, Catalin Vlaicu, Hristu Sapera, Mihai Bordei) -18 Female: Chicas mas bellas (Bianca Blanaru, Hanna Demeter, Alexandra Dumitrache, Lovasz Izabela) -18 Male: Butchery Catalin Stai cu, Emanuel Pena, Vlad Stoicoviciu, Radu Morariu) -14 Male: We got balls Adnan Zanbouah, Rares Craciunescu, Marian Otoiu, Stefan Birloveanu) -14 Female: Suricate (Gabriela Brudea, Claudia Dinu, Raluca Mihai, Alina Bucur)
Article: Andrei Gherasim Source: SPORTARENA Photos: SPORTARENA
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IDEAS4TALENT: Introduce yourself quickly to the world. Cristiana: My name is Cristiana Stancu, I’m 20 years old (ok… almost 21 ) and I’m very proud about what I’m going to tell to you: I am an Orthodox Christian and Romanian Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) athlete. IDEAS4TALENT: What and who inspired you to practice MMA? Cristiana: Looking back, I think that I was inspired and in the same time I evolved to become a MMA athlete. I started to practice Full Contact when I was nine yeas old. I grew up as an enthusiastic student in martial arts and I was fed and inspired with stories about the generation of fighters that made Romania one of the European powers in Full Contact in the 90’s. In 2008 I met and started to train with two of these fighters: Tiberiu Florescu and Paul Kasprovschi. Having them as coaches, I started to grow and to evolve to become a Mixed Martial Arts athlete part of Combat Ant MMA Club.
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IDEAS4TALENT: Why would anyone learn this sport? 3. Cristiana: I see Mixed Martial Arts as a tremendously complex and multi-disciplinary deposits of human knowledge in fighting. Moreover, MMA is evolving permanently to become even more comprehensive! It comprises heavy practicing and mind blowing experiences and breakthroughs (well, they can be mind blowing literally if an athlete is not well prepared or properly coached). For instance it’s pure exhilaration the way it deals with human limits - like fear, pain or even gravity – and it provides money can’t buy experience when we break these limits in fighting or trainings. MMA has also a fun and energizing side. Just think on how many times you as a kid engaged in play-fight games and remember how funny it was. Well, we have access to all these experiences everyday at the gym! Not to mention the powerful bonding, sense of peer ship and friendship that is building between the gym colleagues. So, let’s wrap it up: why would anyone want to learn something that is complex, engaging, exhilarating, fun and bond making? I don’t have any clue .
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IDEAS4TALENT: Tell me what were the reasons you were so lucky to grow learning mma. Cristiana: It is about a mixture of personal choices and of the people I had to opportunity to encounter and impacted my life. I truly believe that one cannot practice MMA unless he does it out of sheer passion. Bu this is not enough. It also takes to encounter experienced trainers, inspirational role models and I would say the whole ecosystem comprised by a gym (the gym mates, the space, the culture). For me – this was the contribution of my current trainers and the entire CombatAnt experience.
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41 IDEAS4TALENT: Tell me about the Romanian Women’s Boxing Team. Cristiana: Recently, I had the privilege to start training with the Romanian Women’s Boxing Team. This encounter enriched me a lot – and not only for improving my boxing techniques. It inspired me as I met World Champions with a strong sense of modesty, role models and great life stories, but most of all a professional attitude and a keen sense of duty.
42 IDEAS4TALENT: What’s your favorite city? Cristiana: In Romania, my favorite city is Iasi, due to its richness in Christian Orthodox life and presence. I’ve got to add that the Orthodox Christianity is a value that defines and motivates me in following my sports career and serving my country as an athlete in a rightful way. From abroad, my favorite city is Tokyo maybe, because it seems to be from another planet and because of my passion for the Japanese culture.
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IDEAS4TALENT: Some people do not really like what they do. Others love what they do. Why do you think this discrepancy even exists? Cristiana: In my case – only when I had the guts to do what I loved and trusted in I felt true to myself and fulfilled. It took a lot of guts for me to continue practicing MMA… and not only because, most of the times, it involves somebody else trying to beat you up. In many cases, many people (even people I care a lot about) told me that a girl like me should give up MMA and engage in some activity that is more “adequate” for a girl. It took a lot of guts for me to look these people in the eyes and tell them that although I care a lot about them, I would carry on with the MMA because that’s my vocation… and if they’re not ok with this – at least, let’s just agree to disagree.
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Laura and Razvan are two ordinary people, but with big dreams! Laura works in a bank, Razvan in IT, but ... in their spare time they dance Argentinean tango with passion! Dana Burghel says she met them last year while looking for something that fit her idea of leadership: anyone can be a leader if it has passion and dedication because passion can inspire others! And a leader grows leaders, not followers! Although, in tango, a man drives and woman follows, things are not quite so literally, because a man leads as how a woman answers ... So she, in turn, is a leader. Razvan and Laura really are two leaders in their project Tango Brujo: dancing with passion, are all present during the dance and they merge with music and with time. They inspire others and enjoy themselves! It is a delight to watch them dance because the energy they have passes down to the viewer. They are alive, they are perceptive to one another and, subtly, teaches us how to live in the present moment and how to enjoy it. They are beautiful examples of the idea that ‘there is life after work’, and if you ever went through your head to learn to dance Argentinean tango after you see Laura and Razvan, you will feel crazy to throw a party and you in the ring! Laura and Razvan, proposed by Dana Burghel, win the competition!
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His name is Andrei - Gabriel George and comes from Magurele, Ilfov County. He tells us he is an energetic boy, lively, cheerful, bold, outgoing, strong-willed, and extraordinary as it characterizes the sign, ‘Scorpio’. He loves to sing, dance, travel more, to be surrounded by friends and listen to music. “I sing since I was 5 years old when I began taking my first singing lessons with Professor Michael Sirlincan from the Kids Club, sector 5 – Bucharest, club where I worked as a vocal member of the Andante.” Currently member of the vocal group BimBam, with his wonderful coordinator teacher Cristina Kish, a lady that advises him the steps to that fascinating realm of music. He participated in numerous music festivals in the country, as well as various shows and entertainment on TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, Kanal D, TVRM, GSP TV, ETALON TV and Radio Romania News (“junior ROMANIAN Songs” in the show “Romanian Night Best Songs” and show “DO-RE-MI for your kids”).
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MIHAELA SCARLAT is a girl who writes poems and epigrams, as a hobby. One of the poems have already appeared on the website autentici.ro: Talisman. Sunt iute de picior cand vreau Calc stamb, in strachini, in doi peri Dar tu asterni in mine primaveri Si-atunci raman la tine-un anotimp. Si uneori picur caldura Dar alteori omatu-i intre noi Imi place sa-ti astern pe gura Inima albastra si trifoi. Iti dau din al meu prea mult verde Si-ti iau in schimb albastrul tot Vreau echitate in blesteme Mai vreau sa iti aduc noroc. MIHAELA SCARLAT takes 3rd place. She has been proposed by autentici.ro
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This year, Roland Garros is more spectacular than ever! For me it doesn’t matter who plays, who shouts, who is injured except for 4 players. That’s it. So the question in my mind is this: Who will win? Nadal…
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Djokovic...
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Federer...
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or Tsonga?
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Article: Andrei Gherasim Photos: Eurosport