Amelia Racea wins Romanian International

Amelia Racea 58.15
Elisabetta Preziosa (ITA) 55.3
Diana Chelaru 55.25
Dorina Boczogo (HUN) 52.65
Goksu Ustas (TURK) 52.5
Yessenia Estrada (MEX) 50.05
Lotte BO (Norway) 47.85

A week ago Amelia Racea won the Citta di Lugano trophy in Milan. Today, she won the title of international champion of Romania. She spoke to Prosport about her goals for this year, the most important being the AA title at the European Youth Festival (FOTE), to be held in Tampere, from the 18th to the 25th of July.

Amelia, how was the competition today?

"It was very difficult. A competition is easier than training, where you have to repeat the same exercise dozens of times. I was nervous at the start, but I got over it; mostly about bars and beam, I think."

Was the competition similar to the Lugano?

"It was a bit more difficult to concentrate in Switzerland, because there were many girls and the competition was higher, but it was good because I was in both competitions, and I did as well as I wanted to."

What goals do you have for this year?

"To go to FOTE, win the all around, and each event final if possible."

Do you feel the pressure of everyone expecting results from you?

"It is hard - I think everyone has expectations. I'm not pushed too much."

What do you want to improve on?

"I want to get a more difficult vault, and improve on the bars."

What are your goals tomorrow?

"To win each event final, and perform my best."

You've competed in a lot of competitions since the start of the year. Are you tired?

"No. It's more important that I gain experience, and more confidence."

Romanian International

WAG participants: Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Ana Porgras (her first competition since her knee surgery at the start of the year), Diana Chelaru and Gabriela Dragioi.
MAG: Flavius Koczi, Răzvan Şelariu, Alin Jivan, Marius Berbecar, Cosmin Popescu, Ovidiu Buidoşo, Andrei Ursache, and Adrian Bucur Cristian Băţagă.

No information on other competitors, but gymnasts from 11 countries will be competing. On the women's side, Dragoi and Ana Porgras will compete only two events, while the other three will do AA.

Daniel Popescu, silver medalist on vault at the 2007 Worlds, will miss the competition after an injury earlier this week. "I was trying a new element on the high bar and I felt a lot of pain in my back. I'm currently taking pills and injections, and I hope that by the end of the week I can resume training. I am sorry not to be at the International, it would be a good competition, but my health is more important at this time."

Sandra Izbasa is still recovering from her foot surgery. Inspired by Nadia has a recent interview here.

Amelia Racea wins junior all-around at Jesolo

At the Jesolo meet on Saturday, Olympian Lia Parolari won the senior all-around title, while Amelia Racea won the all-around in the junior section. The Italian team as a whole performed very well, but Vanessa Ferrari wasn't there after all! EuroEmily Army and Paola Galante also performed very well, both scoring less than a point below Parolari. Elisabetta Preziosa and Serena Licchetta both took falls.
The officials were hoping to use Ferrari in two events at Europeans, but the team here performed very well without her, so she may not be included in the team.

The Brazilians performed all right, but not brilliantly. Dos Santos, Barbosa and Souza are still too injured to compete.

My computer won't display any more of the article, but here are results from the all-around:

Senior AA
Lia Parolari 54.75
He Ning 54.6
Bruna Leal 54.5 (despite a fall on beam)
Paola Galante 54.5
Ana Maria Tamarjan 54.15
Emily Army 53.9
Ethiene Franco 53.25
Serena Licchetta 53.05
Diana Chelaru 52.7
E. Rando (ITA) 51.95

Junior AA
Amelia Racea 55.55
C. Ferlito (ITA) 54.85
E. Fasana (ITA) 54.6
F. de Agostini (ITA) 53.6
Niamh Rippin (GBR) 53.5
Nicole Hibbert (GBR) 53.05
J. Silva (BRA) 52.0
Danusia Francis (GBR) 52.9
Raluca Haidu (ROM) 52.7
A. Rupini (ITA) 52.25

Sandra performed her new floor routine as she did in the Nadia Comaneci Invitational, but didn't do very well, ending up with only 13.7.

amc81 has many of the routines posted.