Basketball: Romania to participate with both teams in Chengdu World University Games

Romania's men's and women's teams have been invited by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) to participate in the competitions of the Chengdu World University Games (China), this summer, the Romanian Basketball Federation announced on Wednesday, Agerpres reports.

The last time when Romanian basketball was represented both by the women's and men's teams in the World University Games was in 1981, at the University Games hosted in Bucharest.

Back then the women's team won the bronze medals, while the USSR and the USA took the first steps of the podium. Two years later, in Edmonton, Canada, Romania's women's team recorded its greatest performance in the World University Games: silver medal, after the final lost to the United States, 61-83 (after which, in the group phase Romania had won by 85 to 71). The last presence of the Romanian women's team in the World University Games was three years ago, in Naples, when they ranked 11th.

After 1900, the men's team registered its best ranking (6th place) in 2013, in Kazan, Russia, succeeded by the team coached by Tudor Costescu, which included players such as Rolland Torok, Iulian Orbeanu, Bogdan Tibirna, Vlad Negoitescu, Adrian Gutoaia or Catalin Petrisor.

Chengdu World University Games will take place between June 26 and July 7, 2022, with eligible players being students or higher education graduates (who graduated in 2020 or 2021), born between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2004.

The competition had been initially scheduled for 2021, nonetheless it was postponed by one year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.