SPORTSLINE

TENNIS

"Don't wanna be Ukrainian"

Now that the tennis season is in full swing, Ukraine's most demonstrative Russian, Andrei Medvedev, has hit the headlines again. Rumors swirled since the beginning of the year that Mr. Medvedev was seeking a Russian passport after years of insisting that Kyiv was where his heart is and resisting Muscovite enticements to relocate.

On February 29, the Reuters news agency reported that Mr. Medvedev had made a bid to change allegiance from Ukraine to Russia in time for this year's summer Olympics. His move was rejected by the International Tennis Federation.

Reuters reported that Mr. Medvedev is "viewed as a national hero in Ukraine alongside figure skating gold medalist Oksana Baiul and world pole vault record holder Serge Bubka." It also quoted an interview with the Moscow daily Sport Express, in which the tennis pro opined: "I grew up in the Soviet Union, my homeland was the Soviet Union, my capital was Moscow, even if Kyiv was my home town. But everything is so complicated, it's hard for me to say what it means now."

According to the London-based ITF's rules, players are eligible to play for an adopted team only if they have not represented any other country for three years before their application. A Kyiv-born ethnic Russian, Mr. Medvedev has played for Ukraine in the Davis Cup during that period.

Powered by a quartet of the professional tour's rising stars, Yevgeny Kafelnikov (currently ranked eighth in the world), Andrei Olhovsky, Alexander Volklov and Andrei Chesnokov, Russia has been the runner-up for the past two years in the Davis Cup tournament (to Sweden and the U.S.), but lost in the first round to Italy on February 9-11 in a series of close hard-fought matches.

According to a March 1 item in Ukraina Moloda, Ukrainian Tennis Federation President German Beniaminov said "the [Ukrainian] federation cannot place any roadblocks in the way of a sportsman who is ranked 13th in the tennis world."

Ukrainian National Olympic Committee President Valeriy Borzov begged to differ. He pointed out that a change of teams about five months prior to Olympic competition is impossible. "Our tennis team has already been formed, but we are ready to discuss the matter following the Olympics," Mr. Borzov said in a quote carried by Ukraina Moloda.

Taras Bejko, a former teammate of Mr. Medvedev contacted by The Weekly in Montreal, opined that the famous Kyivan's performance has fallen off recently, and he was probably seeking a less pressure-packed assignment than carrying a weak Ukrainian men's team.

A winner of nine major tournaments and ranked as high as fourth in the world in 1993, Mr. Medvedev has dropped to 14th as of March 17. In the season's first Grand Slam event, the Australian Open, he lost in the second round to Patrick McEnroe in a bizarre match he led 6-0, 6-2 at one point.

Mr. Medvedev has seemingly recovered, and is still capable of inspired play, as he proved in his first-round drubbing of Mr. Kafelnikov 6-1, 6-3, at the European Community Championships on February 19-25 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Mr. Medvedov pressed on besting Romanian Adrian Voinea, 6-3, 6-3, and eking out a gritty win over the Swiss Marc Rosset (the eighth seed), 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3. He bowed out in the semi-final to the eventual champion, Germany's Michael Stich, 6-4, 6-1.

In his latest result, at the Muratti Indoor in Milan, Mr. Medvedev reached the quarter-finals, but lost to France's Guy Forget on March 1, 1-6, 6-3, 5-7.

Rusedski turns it up a notch

The other high-profile Ukrainian member of the men's tour is a turncoat of a different stripe. Former Montrealer Greg Rusedski sought and won the right to represent the United Kingdom last year, having avoided playing for Canada on its Davis Cup team.

His season began with a series of hard fights down under. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, he gave eventual champion Boris Becker of Germany a run for his money, with the score 6-4, 36, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Teuton's favor.

His best result came at the Peters International Tournament in Sydney, Australia, where he shocked No. 2 seed Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands 7-6, 7-6 and reached the semi-finals before being ousted by fifth seed Todd Martin, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), of the U.S.

Mr. Rusedski has vaulted to 44th in the world rankings, but has had the bad luck of frequently running into his Wimbledon '95 nemesis, Pete Sampras. They met at the Kroger St. Jude Open in Memphis, Tennessee, in February, and Mr. Sampras prevailed, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (71), in an awesome slugfest. Mr. Rusedski took the first set against the hot U.S. player in a quarter-final match at the Sybase Open in San Jose, Calif., 7-6 (75), but then lost the next two, 3-6, 4-6.

Women's tour

On the men's tour, Ukraine has nobody other than the restless Mr. Medvedev in the top 200. On the women's circuit, there are three competitors in the Tier 2 and 3 group, though none are flirting with the elite top-20.

Natalia Medvedeva, Andrei's older sister, is ranked 154th, and at a the EAGenerali tournament in Linz, Austria, she beat local Beate Reinstadtler 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, but bowed out to France's Julie Halard in the next, 7-5, 6-1.

At the same event, Olga Lugina, ranked 173rd, rose out of the qualifying round with a victory over Germany's Wiltrud Probst, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-3. Unfortunately, in the first round she ran up against 37th ranked Silvia Farina of Italy and lost, 6-4, 6-4.

The last of Ukraine's women's tour trio, Elena Tatarkova, has yet to register a game above the qualifying round in a Women's Tennis Association sanctioned event this year, but has risen five places to a 181 rank in the world.

Natalia Medvedeva, although raised in the same family as her demonstrative star brother, is bemused by her identity as a representative of Ukraine, but not resentful. In an interview she gave to Volodymyr Khoroshun of the Russian language Dzerkalo Nedeli (February 12 issue), she explains that hearing the Ukrainian national anthem played at the Australian Open when she walked on court with her sibling for a mixed doubles match was "pleasant, although l'm not entirely used to it."

She also greatly appreciated it when fans showed up and frantically waved the Ukrainian blue and yellow.

Although she shares an apartment with Andrei in Germany when on tour, Ms. Medvedeva finds people there "cold."

Asked if she could play for Russia, Ms. Medvedeva said, "No, definitely not. I was born [in Ukraine], grew up here, trained here. Never in my life will I play for Russia, no matter what they offered; it doesn't interest me."

HOCKEY

When Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Cliff Fletcher fired Pat Burns as coach on March 4, he appointed Nick Beverley, the team's director of scouting and player personnel, as interim coach for the balance of the season.

Mr. Beverly is of Ukrainian background - his family changed the surname from Bezverechney.

Mr. Beverly broke into the NHL as a defenseman in 1966, and played with six teams over 11 seasons. He continued his career with the Los Angeles Kings organization as coach of their minor league affiliate in Houston, and then gradually rose through the managerial ranks.

In 1991, Mr. Beverly was appointed the Kings' general manager and saw his team reach the Stanley Cup finals two years later. In 1994, he joined the Leafs as their chief scout, (Ukrainian World Congress Sport Commission)

SKIING

This year's Great Scorer award (it's not if you win, it's how you play the game) should go to Ukraine's indefatigable skier Yulia Kharkivska. Competing in the Alpine Skiing World Championship in Sierra Nevada, Spain, she came in dead last (37th) in the women's first event, the Super-G, held on February 12th, a full six seconds behind the first-place finisher, in a sport where the top five are separated by hundredths of a second.

In the downhill on February 18, she tied for last with Argentina's Lucila Lantschner, 10 seconds behind the leader, photogenic champion Picabo Street of the U.S. The next day, Ms. Kharkivska did not finish in the women's combined, but neither did 17 others, including the slick Ms. Street.

Then came the plucky skier's best results. As the field fell and missed gates in tortuous conditions (29 did not finish), Ms. Kharkivska came in 25th in the slalom on February 25. Three days later, as 20 competitors bowed out of the giant slalom, she came in 28th.

In cross-country skiing, Iryna Taranenko soldiers on in World Cup competition. She came in 13th at a Nordic meet in Lahti, Finland, settling into ninth place in the over-all standings after 13 races.

BIATHLON

In the biathlon World Championships at Ruhpolding, Germany, on February 10, Ukraine claimed the bronze medal in the 4 x 7.5 kilometer relay thanks to Olympic medalist Valentyna Tserbe and her teammates Tetiana Vodopianova, Elena Petrova and Olena Zubrilova.

VOLLEYBALL

Mike Burchuk has joined Taras Liskevych among the ranks of Olympic volleyball team coaches in North America.

Mr. Burchuk's squad clinched a berth in the summer's Olympics in Atlanta by besting the Dominican Republic in a convincing straight set (15-6, 15-6, 15-2) victory at the Continental Cup championship in Winnipeg on March 16.

Mr. Burchuk was named head coach of the Canadian squad in the spring of 1989, after serving for three years as the skipper of the national junior team.

Before that he put in a nine-year stint as a coach at the University of Winnipeg, leading the team to six consecutive national titles, two undefeated seasons and an over-all winning percentage of 89.4. Under his leadership the U of W's women won 43 of the 56 tournaments they entered.

The last time Canada's women's team qualified for the Olympics was in 1984, for the Los Angeles Games, under another Ukrainian, Lorne Sawula.

FIGURE SKATING

Although feeling the void left by the stellar Oksana Baiul, Ukraine was in good shape heading into the World Championships, held March 19-23 in Edmonton, Alberta. (See story on page 5.)

At the recent Champions' Series Grand Prix in Paris, held February 22-24, the recently crowned European Champion Viacheslav Zahorodniuk narrowly missed making the podium and took fourth place, behind local Eric Mallot.

TRACK AND FIELD

Ukrainian Lyubov Klochko won her second Los Angeles marathon on March 3 with a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes, 30 seconds. "I wanted to run with a pack of women," she told the Associated Press through an interpreter, "but no one wanted to go with me. I had to run with the men."

On February 11, world record holding pole vaulter Sergei Bubka of Donetske chalked up another victory at the French International Indoor track meet in Paris, but the height was less than impressive. At 18 feet, 4.5 inches, the winning height was a about foot below his season's best of 19 feet 4.25 inches, not to mention his world mark of over 20 feet.

At the European Indoor meet in Stockholm held on March 9-11, which most of Ukraine's leading athletes appeared to have avoided, Viacheslav Tyrtyshnyk placed 12th in the men's high jump, while Yelena Khlopotnova finished 10th in the women's long jump.

HANDBALL

Rick Oleksyk is the coach of the USA's national team in a sport he says deserves more recognition. "I guarantee, before we're old men, people will know this sport in the U.S." he said. Mr. Oleksyk hopes he will benefit from the added profile afforded by his country's hosting of this year's Olympics. His team was given an automatic berth as host country.

Mr. Oleksyk assumed his present position in 1982. A graduate of West Point who served seven years in the U.S. Army, he has motivated his team. "We want to shock the world," said 29-year-old squad member Tom Fitzgerald. "Mr. Oleksyk's not a real screamer. At the same time, when he speaks everyone knows that's the law."

Mr. Oleksyk knows he's fighting an uphill battle. "It is the total opposite of basketball," he said, "Whenever we go to Europe, they kind of laugh and say, 'Now you know how we feel in basketball.'"

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 31, 1996, No. 13, Vol. LXIV

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