SPORTSLINE
Soccer
- According to an AP Worldstream report on May 29, Ukraine was the only
team headed to the World Cup that looked like it was ready for the tournament
to begin. The Ukrainian team defeated Costa Rica 4-0 on May 28 in a warm-up
match, despite missing the injured Andriy Shevchenko. Serhiy Nazarenko
gave Ukraine the lead in the 29th minute by knocking in a rebound off Costa
Rica goalkeeper Wardy Alfaro. Other scorers for Ukraine were Andriy Vorobei,
Maxim Kalinichenki and Olexiy Belik with an assist from Andriy Husin.
Ukraine is scheduled to play in Group H at the World Cup
in Germany with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Shevchenko is expected
to recover in time for the team's first match on June 14 against Spain.
Continuing with the warm-up schedule, Ukraine faces Italy,
Libya and Luxembourg in friendly match-ups.
- The AP reported on May 27 that Andriy Shevchenko is leaving AC Milan
after seven seasons and intends to join English champion Chelsea. Milan
offered the Ukrainian striker a contract extension until 2011.
"It has nothing to do with my relationship with the
coach, team and club or even money," Shevchenko said at a news conference.
Shevchenko is married to an American and said the couple
wanted their son to learn English.
"We decided together for the good of the family,"
Shevchenko said. "I don't speak English, my wife doesn't speak Ukrainian,
the only language we have in common now is Italian, but the only way to
make our children understand the love we have for them is the English language."
Milan chairman Adriano Galliani said he tried to convince
Shevchenko to stay, up until the minute before the press conference.
Shevchenko has scored 173 goals for Milan - the second
most in club history.
- Oleksander Yatsenko, the captain for Ukraine's Under-21 team, has been
called in to fill the shoes of the injured Sergei Federov, as reported
by the BBC. Yatsenko is joined by three other U-21 team members - Andrei
Pyatov, Dmytro Chigrynskiy and Artem Milevsky - on the World Cup squad.
- Ukraine advances to the semi-finals for the UEFA U-21 Championship
in Portugal. The team was to face Serbia and Montenegro on June 1. Ukraine
defeated the Netherlands 2-1 on May 24, lost to Italy 0-1 on May 26 and
defeated Denmark 2-1 on May 29. Currently Ukraine is at the top of its
group with 6 points.
- For the UEFA EURO 2008 Championship, Ukraine drew in its Group B the
teams of France, Italy, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Lithuania and Georgia.
Qualifiying rounds will take place from September of this year to November
of 2007, with the tournament running on June 7-29, 2008, in Austria and
Switzerland. Ukraine's first qualifying match is scheduled take place June
9, 2006, against Georgia.
- Sergei Rebrov suffered a thigh injury at a training camp in Turkey,
but coach Oleh Blokhin says the player will be ready for the World Cup
in Germany.
- Ukrainian football fans have begun building what they call the "Cossacks
in Europe" recreational camp in Potsdam, Germany, to show support
for the Ukrainian National Team at the World Cup in Germany. The project
is being sponsored by the German company GERMOL GmbH through support of
the Ukrainian Football Federation, Potsdam City Hall and the Ukrainian
Embassy in Berlin.
- Ukraine's Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yurii Pavlenko has suggested
that Presidents Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine and Lech Kaczynski of Poland
represent their respective countries at the closing stage of the tender
for hosting final matches of the 2012 European Football (Soccer) Championship,
which will be staged at UEFA's headquarters in Switzerland on December
8.
On May 31 Minister Pavlenko and his Polish couterpart,
Tomasz Lipiec, Ukrainian Football Federation President Heorhii Surkis,
his Polish counterpart Mihal Lstkiewicz, Ukrainian NOC President Serhiy
Bubka and Polish NOC President Piotr Nurowski will submit the joint application
to the UEFA at its HQ in Switzerland.
The Ukrainian-Polish party will vie with Italy and the
Croatia-Hungary tandem for the honor to host the champioship's final part.
Chess
The defending champion Ukrainian chess team defeated India's men for
the second time in the Chess Olympiad held in Turin, Italy. After Viswanathan
Anand drew with former world championship challenger Vassily Ivanchuk on
the top board, Grandmaster (GM) Sandipan Chanda held higher rated Pavel
Elyanov on the fourth round. In an uncharactersitic blunder, P. Hari Krishna
was defeated by the youngest GM at the tournament, Sergey Karjakin.
Boxing
The Klitschko brothers participated in a ceremony to present the Golden
Sportspyramide Award to Bayern Munich football club president Franz Beckenbauer.
The brothers congratulated Beckenbauer on receiving the award and expressed
their hope that Germany and Ukraine will meet in the World Cup final.
Wrestling
On April 26, Oleksandra Kohut, 18, of Lviv won the bronze medal at the
European Wrestling Championships in Moscow in Greco-Roman and freestyle
wrestling. She won against Nataliya Budu of Moldova in the 51 kg division
with a tied score, but a ruling by the judges on Kohut's last grip placed
her as the winner. Maria Stadnyk of Ukraine won gold in the 48 kg division,
with Svetlana Sayenko taking silver in the 72 kg division.
In the men's division, Mykhaylo Nikolayev, 23, of Mykolayiv, Ukraine,
won silver in the 96 kg division at the European Greco-Roman Wrestling
Championships in Moscow.
Winter Olympics
President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine signed an order on April 14 to
award scholarships to athletes and coaches who participated in the 2006
Winter Olympics. According to the document, Elena Grushina, Ruslan Goncharov,
Nina Lemesh, Kostantyn Vayhin, Vasyl Mushkin, Nikolai Morozov, Mykola Zots
and Liliya Yefremova will be receiving as much as 6,000 hrv every month.
Swimming
The Ukrainian National Team won two gold medals, one silver and two
bronze at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai, China.
Ukrainian swimmer Oleh Lysohor has set a new world record in 100-meter
breast stroke with a time of 58.32 seconds, one-hundredth of a second better
than his previous record four years ago. Lysohor won his second gold in
the 50-meter-breaststroke with a time of 26.39. The bronze was won by Ukraine
in the combined relay race with Andriy Oliynyk, Oleh Lysohor, Serhiy Advena
and Andriy Serdinov breaking a new European record with a time of 3 minutes,
28.26 seconds.
Cycling
Ukrainian cyclists Volodymyr Diudia, Roman Kononenko, Maksym Polishchuk
and Liubomyr Polatayko won the bronze medal in the team pursuit finals
at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France, on April
17, trailing Australia, which took the gold, and Great Britain, which won
the silver.
- Matthew Dubas
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June
4, 2006, No. 23, Vol. LXXIV
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