Orbán congratulates Romanian Olympic champion

Cluj, August 30 (MTI) – Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, has sent a letter of congratulations to fencer Simona Pop, who won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Romanian women’s epee team, in Rio earlier this month.

After her victory, Pop, who is a resident of Satu Mare (Szatmárnémeti), a city in northwestern Romania, became popular among Hungarians for thanking her native town both in Hungarian and Romanian on a news portal.

Orban congratulated Pop on her Olympic triumph and wished her good health and further successes.

The letter was handed over to the fencer in Satu Mare by Annamaria Bekefi, Hungary’s consul to Kolozsvár (in Romanian: Cluj-Napoca).

Calling the letter a great honour, Pop told MTI that her father was an ethnic Hungarian and her family had spoken Hungarian throughout her childhood but then she attended Romanian schools and university.

Pop said that several years ago she had signed with Steaua, the sports club of the Romanian Army, so she had not been able to apply for Hungarian citizenship. “Once I have retired from competitive sport and left the ranks of the Romanian army, I will most probably apply for it,” she said.

Source: MTI