SPORTSLINE (02/20/05)

SPORTSLINE

Figure skating

Elena Hrushina and Ruslan Honcharov took second place in the ice dance competition at the 2005 European Championships in Torino, Italy, on January 25-29. The pair from Ukraine finished with 205.30 points, while Russia's Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov took first place with 214.97 points. Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France took third place with 202.10 points, and Ukraine's Julia Holovina and Oleh Voiko took 16th place with a score of 136.46.

Russia's Evgeni Plushenko took first place in the men's competition with a score of 227.14, while France's Brian Joubert took second place with 224.43 points. Germany's Stefan Lindemann took fourth place with a score of 200.54, and Vitalii Danylchenko of Ukraine took 22nd place with 138.53 points.

In the women's competition, Russia's Irina Slutskaya took first place with 168.71 points, and Finland's Susanna Poykio took second with 158.93 points. Ukraine's Elena Liashenko took third place with a score of 158.02, and her teammate Halyna Maniachenko took sixth place with 145.86 points.

In the pairs competition, Russia swept all three medal positions as Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin took first place with a score of 196.28. Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov took second place with 177.10 points, and Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov took third place with 175.89. Ukraine's Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov took fifth place with 151.79 points, and Julia Beloglazova and Andrii Bekh took ninth place with 119.50 points.

Track and field

Ukraine's Serhiy Lebid took first place at the second Campaccio cross-country race on February 13 in the men's 12-kilometer event, finishing the race in 36 minutes and 10 seconds. Italy's Stefano Baldini took second place with a time of 36:28, while Phillimon Kipkering of Kenya took third place with a time of 36:40.

Ukraine's Natalia Kushch vaulted a season's best 14.44 feet to take ninth place at the Zepter Pole Vault Stars Meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine, on February 12. The meet, held in the city's Druzhba Auditorium, saw Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva take first place with a world indoor record vault of 15.98 feet. Poland's Anna Rogowska took second place with a vault of 15.58 meters, while her teammate Monika Pyrek took third place with a vault of 15.42 feet. Ukrainians Anzhela Balakhonova and Liudmila Vailenko took 10th and 12th places, respectively, vaulting 13.78 and 13.12 feet.

On the men's side, Ukraine's Denys Yurchenko took third place with a vault of 19.03 feet, while Derek Miles of the United States took first place with a vault of 19.19 feet. Russia's Igor Pavlov took second place with a vault of 19.03 feet, and Ruslan Yeremenko of Ukraine took fifth place with a jump of 18.37 feet.

Biathlon

Viacheslav Derkach took the top spot for Ukraine at a biathlon World Cup event in Antholz, Italy, on January 19-23. Derkach finished the men's 20-kilometer individual race in 16th place, while Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen took first place. China's Chengye Zhang took second place, and Russia's Nikolay Kruglov took third place.

Boxing

The August 2004 issue of the magazine Boxing Digest featured an article on Ukrainian American heavyweight fighter Brian Minto, nicknamed "the Butler Beast." Minto lives in Butler, Pa., and is a member of Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lyndora, Pa. The 6-foot, 210-pound fighter is married with two children and currently holds a professional record of 18 wins and one loss, with 11 knockouts. He signed a contract last year with boxing promoter Duva Boxing.

Minto, a 29-year-old construction worker, began his amateur career at age 13 and then picked up football in high school, according to the boxing website www.boxingnews.com.

Veteran heavyweight fighter Tony "TNT" Tubbs handed Minto his first loss in a 10-round bout that was decided on points last December. The 46-year-old Tubbs, a former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, took two of the three judges' scorecards - 97-93, 96-94 and 94-96 - to win the West Virginia State title.

Swimming

Ukraine's Oleh Lysohor took first place in the men's 50-meter breaststroke event at a Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Cup event in Moscow on January 26-27. Lysohor finished the race in 26.67 seconds, while Ed Moses of the United States took second place with a time of 27.38. Russia's Denis Grishin took third place with a time of 27.83, and Ukraine's Igor Borysik took fourth place with a time of 28.04. Borysik's teammate Valeriy Dymo took sixth place with a time of 28.21.

Lysohor took first place in the men's 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 58.39 seconds, while Jim Piper of Australia took second place with a time of 59.27. Russia's Grigory Falko took third place with a time of 59.50, and Ukraine's Borysik took seventh place with a time of 1 minute, and 0.45 seconds.

Yurii Yegoshyn of Ukraine took fourth place in the men's 100-meter freestyle, finishing the race in 49.01 seconds, while Ryk Neethling of South Africa took first place with a time of 47.30. Jason Lezak of the United States took second place with a time of 47.46, and Russia's Evgeny Lagunov took third place with a time of 48.95.

Yegoshyn took fourth place in the men's 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.26 seconds, while Lezak took first place with a time of 21.69. Roland Schoeman and Neethling of South Africa took second and third places, respectively, with times of 21.77 and 22.03.

In the men's 400-meter individual medley, Ukraine's Dmytro Nazarenko took second place with a time of 4 minutes and 10.30 seconds, while Russia's Igor Berezutsky took first place with a time of 4:08.20. Japan's Hidemasa Sano took third place with a time of 4:11.28.

Ukraine's Kateryna Zubkova took first place in the women's 50-meter backstroke with a time of 27.45 seconds, while Japan's Masaki Oikava took second place with a time of 27.85. Svitlana Khakhlova of Belarus took third place with a time of 28.07.

Zubkova then took first place in the women's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 58.42 seconds, while Japan's Aya Terakawa and Oikava tied for second place with times of 59.52.

Ukraine's Zubkova took second place in the women's 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2 minutes and 6.84 seconds, while Japan's Hanae Ito took first place with a time of 2:06.65. Russia's Stanislava Komarova took third place with a time of 2:07.47.

Andrii Serdinov of Ukraine took second place in the men's 50-meter butterfly with a time of 23.66 seconds, while Japan's Ryo Takayasu took first place with a time of 23.44. Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov took third place with a time of 23.73.

Serdinov took third place in the men's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 52.11 seconds, while Skvortsov took first place with a time of 51.39. Takayasu took second place with a time of 51.44.

Pavlo Illichov and Andriy Oleynyk of Ukraine took third and fourth places, respectively, in the men's 100-meter backstroke. Illichov finished in 53.33 seconds, and Oleynyk finished in 53.51. Randal Bal of the United States took first place with a time of 52.00, and Japan's Junichi Miyashita took second place with a time of 52.82.

Illichov took third place in the men's 50-meter backstroke with a time of 24.85 seconds, while Bal took first place with a time of 24.12. Miyashita took second place with a time of 24.72

Borysik of Ukraine took sixth place in the men's 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes and 12.04 seconds, while Russia's Falko took first place with a time of 2:06.51. Australia's Piper took second place with a time of 2:06.98, and Moses of the United States took third place with a time of 2:08.13.

Serhiy Sergeyev of Ukraine took third place in the men's 100-meter individual medley with a time of 55.01 seconds, while Ryk Neethling of South Africa took first place with a world record time of 52.01. Roland Schoeman of South Africa took second place with a time of 53.88.

- compiled by Andrew Nynka

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