Women's handball: Cristina Neagu receives trophy for world's best player in 2018

The captain of the Romanian women's national handball team, Cristina Neagu, received on Monday the trophy of the world's best player in 2018, from the International Handball Federation (IHF), during the half-time of Japan vs. Congo from Group D of the World Championship in Japan, according to the IHF website. 

The IHF President, Egyptian Hassan Moustafa, and Kiyofumi Tamiaki, the President of Molten, the official partner of the IHF, were the ones who handed the trophy to Neagu. She was also rewarded with a cheque worth 10,000 euros. 

On 18 March, Neagu became the first player to win four times the trophy awarded by the IHF, after the editions of 2010, 2015 and 2016. 

The player of the Romanian national team and the CSM Bucharest team managed to win the Champions League top goal-scorer title last year, for the second time in her career, with 110 goals. Also, the Romanian was nominated for the competition's dream team, for the fourth time in a row, for the inter-left position. Neagu won the bronze medal with CSM Bucharest in the most important European club competition, winning the title of champion of Romania and the Romanian Cup with CSM Bucharest. 

Cristina Neagu outclassed legend handball players such as Hungarian Agnes Farkas and German Grit Jurack, becoming the best scorer in the history of the European Championship, setting the landmark of 237 goals scored. 

In January, Neagu was chosen the best player in Europe in 2018, in a survey conducted on the Facebook page of the European Handball Federation (EHF), where over 10,000 fans voted. Neagu won this title for the second year in a row.