Countless organizations called on the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to revoke its award of the 2018 World Cup tournament to the Russian Federation. Reasons cited include invasion and occupation of Crimea, sponsoring terrorist organizations in eastern Ukraine and criminal mismanagement/money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 Football World Cup. Soccer clubs from Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol have been dislodged and relocated because of the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Shakhtar’s players are living and practicing in Kyiv, while playing home matches in Lviv. Crimea’s soccer clubs’ status with UEFA has been in limbo since Russia’s forced annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. The Russian Football Union was banned from incorporating Crimean clubs into its competitions by UEFA. Crimea was designated a “special zone for football purposes.”
Ukraina, a boys’ under-12 team from Ukraine, won the Chicago KICS Cup International Youth Soccer Tournament held on July 19-26.
At the 2015 FINA Masters in Kazan, Russia on August 5-16, Georgiy Chizhevskiy took first place in the 200-m breaststroke. Mykhailo Romanchuk won first in the men’s 1,550-m freestyle race at the 2015 World SWIMMING Championships in Qatar on November 2-3.
Elina Svitolina, a rising star in women’s TENNIS, was only the second-ever teenager to win multiple WTA titles with her repeat victory in Baku. Lesia Tsurenko defeated Urszula Radwanska 7-5, 6-1 to win the Paribas Istanbul Cup on July 19-26 claiming the first WTA Tour title of her career.
Yulia Yelistratova won first place in the elite women’s division at the 2015 Alanya ITU TRIATHLON World Cup on October 17 in Turkey.
Ukraine won the most medals (8G, 3S, 1B) at the European WEIGHTLIFTING Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia on April 10-18. Yulia Paratova and Yulia Kalyna each won three gold medals, while Oleg Proshak won two gold and a bronze. Alina Shevkoplyas (63 kg) and Dmytro Sukhotskyi (50 kg) won gold in the U-17 division at the European Weightlifting Championships in Sweden on August 1-8.
Diaspora sports
In diaspora sports news Chornomorska Sitch Ukrainian Athletic Educational Association had celebrated its 90th anniversary with a gala banquet on November 15, 2014, in Whippany, N.J. The jubilee was highlighted in the 51st edition of Sitch’s annual journal, Our Sport.
Tryzub Ukrainian American Sport Center sponsored travel expenses of two skiers and the ground transport for Ukraine’s six-member Alpine Ski team, allowing them to compete at the World Championships in Colorado on February 2-16.
Ukraine’s Alpine skiers (from left) Dmytro Mytsak, Olha Knysh, Rostyslav Feshchuk, Tetyana Tikun, Ivan Kovbasnyuk and Bogdana Matsotska.
The 61st annual ski races of the Carpathian Ski Club were held in Hunter, N.Y., on March 7 with 81 racers from pre-schoolers to seniors running the NASTAR course.
May 16 saw the Ukrainian Nationals (Tryzub) Rangers 11-13 boys soccer squad capture the NCS Eastern Pennsylvania State Cup. The team allowed one lone goal in four matches. On May 22-24, Tryzub hosted its 14th annual Ukrainian Nationals Soccer Tournament with youth teams from six states and Canada entering the competition.
Chornomorska Sitch won first place at the 2015 Steven Howansky Memorial Soccer Tournament held in Yonkers on June 20-21. Chicago soccer club FC Connection won the 2015 Great Lakes Cup tournament held on June 27-28 in Brighton, Mich. – its fourth overall tourney victory.
FC Connection, champions of the Great Lakes Cup soccer tournament.