Fencing
• Ukraine’s junior women’s fencing foil team finished in fourth place at the Timisoara Foil Junior World Cup team tournament in Timisoara, Romania, on September 10. Ukraine earned 36 points, and in the third-place match lost 36-45 against Japan.
• Ukraine’s men’s epee team won bronze after defeating Switzerland 45-31 in the third-place match at the European Championships in Torun, Poland, that concluded on June 25. Ukraine’s men’s saber team finished in 10th place, the women’s epee team finished in eighth place, and the women’s foil team finished in seventh place.
Gymnastics
• Ihor Radivilov’s signature maneuver was accepted by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), along with four other skills in men’s gymnastics, for consideration by its Men’s Technical Committee at the Olympic Games. “If done successfully at any time during the Games, these elements will be officially named for the gymnast who performs them,” the statement said. Radivilov’s move, a vault element with three complete somersaults, would be named after the 23-year-old from Mariupol.
• Hanna Rizatdinova won medals – gold in hoop, gold in clubs, silver in ribbon and in team competition, while team Ukraine won gold in the two hoops and six clubs event, and silver (with Finland) in the group all-around at the 2016 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series event in Berlin on July 1-3. Ukraine did not compete at the World Cup events that were held in Kazan, Russia, on July 9-10 or in Baku, Azerbaijan, on July 22-24.
Swimming
• Kostiantyn Ukradyha won silver in the annual Bosphorus Cross Continental Race on July 24 between the Asian side of Istanbul and the European side. The 6.5-kilometer race attracted 1,500 swimmers this yea. It has been held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee since 1989.
• Andriy Hovorov won two gold medals – in the 50-meter butterfly and the 50-meter freestyle – at the French Open European Swimming Championships in Vichy, France, on July 2-3. Hovorov’s time in the butterfly (22.69 seconds) is a new national record for Ukraine’s swimmers. In the freestyle, Hovorov finished in 21.93 seconds to beat Olympic Champion Florent Manaudou of France.
Athletics
• Oleksiy Kasyanov won second place at the Decaster decathlon in Talence, France, on September 17-18. Kasyanov scored 1855 points. He earned 940 points in the 100-meter race (10.65 seconds) and 915 points in the long jump (7.42 meters). Kasyanov won second place in shot put (14.82 meters, 799 points); fifth place in the men’s high jump (1.99 meters, 794 points); finished the 400-meter race in 49.19 seconds, 852 points; had the best time in the 110-meter hurdles (14.08 seconds, 964 points); first place in the discus throw (45.26 meters, 772 points); third place in the 1,500-meter race (4:28.42 seconds, 755 points); and 14th place in the javelin throw.
In the women’s heptathlon, Hanna Kasyanova finished in fourth place in the women’s 100-meter race (13.59 seconds, 1,037 points); eighth place in the women’s high jump (1.72 meters, 879 points); ninth place in the women’s shot put (12.73 meters, 709 points); fourth place in the women’s 200-meter race (24.50 seconds, 933 points); fifth place in the 800-meter race (2:17.87 seconds; 853 points); 12th place in the javelin throw (38.75 meters, 643 points); and 14th place in the long jump (5.67 meters, 750 points).
At the Birell Prague Grand Prix IAAF Gold Label Road Race (10 kilometers) on September 10, Iulia Shmatenko finished in sixth place in the women’s division (33:26 seconds). She finished in 34th place overall for both men and women.
Olha Zemlyak finished in sixth place in the women’s 400-meter race (51.44 seconds) at the AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme tournament in Brussels, Belgium, on September 9. Anna Titimets finished in eighth place in the women’s 400-meter hurdles (55.92 seconds). High jumper Andriy Protsenko finished in fourth place (2.29 meters, six points). Yuliia Levchenko finished in fifth place in the women’s high jump (1.90 meters).
• Ukraine’s Yuliia Levchenko and Iryna Gerashchenko won second and third place, respectively, with both jumping a height of 1.89 meters at the IAAF World Challenge in Zagreb, Croatia, on September 6. Oksana Okuneva finished in fifth place with 1.85 meters.
• Khrystyna Stuy finished in fifth place in the women’s 200-meter race (23.77 seconds) at the ISTAF Berlin International Stadiumfest on September 3 in Berlin. Nataliia Pryshchepa finished in seventh place in the women’s 800-meter race (1:59.44 seconds). In long jump, Maryna Bekh and Alina Shukh finished in eighth and ninth place, respectively (6.18 meters and 5.62 meters), in the women’s long jump.
• At the World Class (Weltklasse) Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 1, Ukraine’s Natalia Pohrebniak finished in third place (11.23 seconds) and Olesya Povkh finished in sixth place (11.39 seconds) in the women’s 100-meter race (group 2). Nataliia Pryshchepa finished in seventh place in the women’s 800-meter race (1:58.60 seconds). Ukraine women’s 4×100-meter race team finished in second place (42.76 seconds). Maryna Bekh finished in ninth place in the women’s long jump (6.38 meters). Iryna Gerashchenko finished in seventh place in the women’s high jump (1.90 meters). Anna Titimets finished in seventh place in the women’s 400-meter hurdles (55.72 seconds).
• At the IAAF Diamond League Meeting in Paris on August 27, Ukraine’s Natalia Pohrebniak finished in sixth place in the women’s 200-meter race (22.95 seconds) and earned one point. Olha Zemlyak finished in sixth place in the women’s 400-meter race (51.34 seconds) and earned one point. Iryna Gerashchenko finished in sixth place in the women’s high jump (1.85 meters, no points). In men’s javelin throw, Dmytro Kosynskyy finish in fourth place (84.08 meters) and earned three points.
• Ukraine won first place in the women’s 4×100-meter race (42.67 seconds) at the Athletissima in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 25. Nataliya Pryshchepa finished in seventh place in the women’s 200-meter race (2:00.59 seconds) and Anna Titmets finished in seventh place (55.99 seconds) in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. In high jump, Bohdan Bondarenko and Andriy Protsenko finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively (2.32 meters and 2.229 meters). Bondarenko earned three points and Protsenko earned two points. Olha Saladukha finished in fifth place in the women’s triple jump (13.95 meters) and Ruslana Tykhotska finished in seventh place (13.54 meters); Saladukha earned two points and Tykhotska did not qualify for points.
• Nataliya Pryshchepa won gold in the women’s 800-meter race at the European Athletics Championship in Amsterdam on July 6-10. She finished with an impressive lead on the pack of runners, with a time of 1:59.70 seconds. The championship is a biennial event organized by the European Athletics Association under the auspices of the IAAF. Pryshchepa and her coach, Andriy Popelayev, received awards from the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine as best sportswoman and best coach from the month of July.
Triathlon
• Ukraine’s athletes swept the podium positions at the European Aquathlon Championships in Chateauroux, France, on June 25-26 in the elite men’s category. Oleksiy Syutkin won gold, Yevhen (Yegor) Matrynenko won silver, and Dmytro Malyar won bronze. The aquathlon includes a 2.5-kilometer run, a 1-kilometer swim and a 2.5-kilometer run. In the elite women’s category, Yulia Yelistratova finished in fourth place. In the U-23 men’s division, Ivan Menshykov won bronze and in the women’s division, Valentyna Molchanets and Maryna Sokolova won bronze and fourth place, respectively. In the junior women’s division, Khrystyna Salkova finished in fourth place (35.50 seconds) and in the junior men’s division, Dmytro Shabanov finished in sixth place (30.37 seconds).
Pentathlon
• Pavlo Tymoshchenko finished in sixth place in the men’s individual results at the Senior European Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, on July 4-10. Ukraine had seven participants in the championship event. Ukraine’s men’s squad – Tymoshchenko, Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy and Vladislav Mishchenko – finished in sixth place in the team final. Ukraine finished in ninth place in the men’s relay, represented by Kirpulyanskyy and Andriy Fedechko. In the mixed relay, Ukraine finished in 10th place, represented by Valeriya Permykina and Yuriy Fedechko.
Sumo wrestling
• Ukraine’s team won eight medals at the 2016 Sumo World Championships in Ulaanbaatarfrom, Mongolia, on July 28. Alina Boikova (65 kg) and Maryna Maksymenko (80 kg) won gold. In the junior division, Kateryna Kolesnyk (60 kg) also won gold. Maria Droboyan (80 kg) won silver, and Ivanna Berezovska (78 kg) and Serhiy Sokolovsky (+115 kg) won bronze medals. In team competition, Boikova, Maksymenko, Droboyan and Berezovska won bronze in the women’s division; in the men’s division, Oleksandr Veresyuk, Mykola Kozhukhov, Sokolovsky and Anton Chuyev also won bronze.
Futsal
• Ukraine lost to Argentina 0-1 on September 22 in the play-off round following the group stage. Ukraine finished in second place in Group D with six points after three matches played at the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia. Ukraine won 3-1 against Australia on September 18, lost 1-3 against Brazil on September 11, and won 4-2 against Mozambique.
• Ukraine lost 0-2 against Italy in an international friendly match on August 30 in Cavalese, Italy. The match was a warm-up going into the Futsal World Cup.
Basketball
• Ukraine’s women’s 3×3 team lost 11-14 to Switzerland in the quarterfinal on September 4 of the European Championships and finished in sixth place after advancing from Pool B. Ukraine won 15-13 against Serbia on September 2 and won 16-14 against Italy on September 2. Ukraine (5-2) finished in second place at the World Championship on October 11-15 in China. Competing in Group A, Ukraine lost 12-14 against New Zealand, won 12- 8 against the Netherlands, won 21-14 against Indonesia and won 13-8 against Poland. Ukraine won 21-10 against France in the quarterfinal and won 19-15 in the semifinal against Spain. In the final, Ukraine lost 11-21 against the Czech Republic. Ukraine was represented by Olha Mazinchenko, Anna Zarycky, Oksana Kysilov and Natalia Skorbatiuk.
• Ukraine has qualified for the 2017 Eurobasket Championship. Ukraine, in Group E of the FIBA Eurobasket 2017 qualifiers, finished in second place with 10 points and a 4-2 record after six matches played, with 467 points for and 424 against, with a point differential of +43 points (Slovenia also advanced in first place of Group E with 12 points). Ukraine lost 69-80 against Slovenia on September 17; won 100-61 against Kosovo on September 14; won 72-67 against Bulgaria on September 10; lost 77-84 against Slovenia on September 7; won 70-63 against Kosovo on September 3; and won 79-69 against Bulgaria on August 31. The draw for the 24-team Eurobasket 2017 will be announced on November 22.
Chess
• Ukraine won second place in the open division of the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, on September 1-14. In the open division, Ukraine finished with 10 wins, no draws and one loss. The U.S.A. won first place with nine wins, two draws and no losses. In the open division, Grandmaster Andrei Volokitin had the highest point total at 8.5 points and Grandmaster Anna Muzychuk won the women’s division with 7.5 points. In team results, Ukraine’s women finished in third place with 30.5 and Ukraine’s open division finished in second place with 31 points (in match points, Ukraine’s open and women’s division totaled 37 points, 20 for men and 17 for women). Due to its open and women’s team’s performance, Ukraine was awarded the Non Gaprindashvili Trophy. The tournament was hosted under the auspices of the International Chess Federation and attracted 180 teams from 175 countries. The women’s division had 142 teams from 138 countries, and the open division had 38 teams from 37 countries.
Ice Hockey
• Ruslan Fedotenko, 37, announced his retirement from professional play on October 11. After winning the Stanley Cup twice, playing 863 NHL games for six different franchises (N.Y. Rangers, 2010-2012; N.Y. Islanders, 2007-2008; Tampa Bay Lightning, 2002-2006; Pittsburgh Penguins, 2008-2009; Philadelphia Flyers, 1999-2002, and the Iowa Wild/Minnesota Wild, 2015-2016 as a free agent), scoring 173 goals and registering 193 assists, totaling 336 points. “As I reflect on my career, I realize how truly fortunate I have been to play the game I love at the highest level, to have won the Stanley Cup, not once, but twice; and to have made countless lifelong friendships along the way. I am retiring as a truly grateful man. I will be forever thankful to the Philadelphia Flyers for giving me my start in professional hockey, their belief in me gave me the confidence to reach a level of play I had only dreamt of.” During the NHL lockout of 2012-2013, Fedotenko signed a three-year deal to play for HC Donbas of the Kontinental Hockey League. He has also played for the Ukrainian national ice hockey team in the 2002 Winter Olympics, appearing in one match where Ukraine won 5-2 against Switzerland.