Tennis update
• In girls’ doubles at the U.S. Open in New York that concluded on September 10, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Olga Danilovic of Serbia won first place after winning 6-1, 7-5 against Lea Boskovic of Croatia and Wang Xiyu of China in the final. The Ukrainian-Serb duo won 6-4, 7-6(7-3) against Sofya Lansere and Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia in the semifinal and won 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinal against Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Emiliana Arango of Colombia.
Boxing
• Ukraine was represented by eight boxers at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Hamburg, Germany, on August 25 through September 2. Middleweight Oleksandr Khyzhniak (81 kg) won the gold-medal bout against Ablikhan Amankul of Kazakhstan. Viktor Vykhryst (+91 kg) lost in the second round against Joseph Goodall of Australia, and Iurii Shestak (60 kg) lost in the quarterfinal against Sofiane Oumiha of France. Khyzhniak was named the best boxer of the tournament in Hamburg and won the 2017 European Boxing Championships in Kharkiv on June 16-24. Ukraine tied with France for fifth place in the medals standings. The tournament attracted 279 boxers from 85 countries.
• Super featherweight (junior lightweight) WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KO) is set for his next bout against Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KO) of Cuba on December 9 at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York.
• Middleweight Sergey Derevyanchenko (11-0-0, 9 KO) won by 12th-round TKO against Tureano Johnson (20-2-0, 14 KO) of Bahamas on August 25 at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami. After the fight Derevyanchen-ko said he was ready to fight the winner of the Gennadiy Golovkin vs Saul “Canelo” Alvarez middleweight unifier.
• Light heavyweight Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KO) won against Todd Unthank May (10-1-1, 4 KO) of the U.S.A. on August 4 at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, Calif. The fights was scheduled for 10 rounds but was stopped after May’s corner retired at the end of the seventh round.
• Super middleweight Viktor Poliakov (12-0-0, 6 KO) won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds against Giovanni De Carolis (24-7-1, 12 KO) of Italy on July 25 at Centrale Live del Foro Italico in Rome.
• WBO Cruiserweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk announced on July 1 that he would join fellow cruiserweights – WBC Cruiserweight Champion Mairis Briedis of Latvia, IBF Cruiserweight Champion Murat Gassiev of Russia, WBA Cruiserweight Champion (regular) Yunier Dorticos of Cuba, former WBO and IBO Cruiserweight Champion Marco Huck of Germany and former IBF and WBC Cruiserweight Champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk of Poland, as well as Mike Perez of Cuba and Dimitry Kudryashov of Russia – in an eight-man bracket-style tournament of the World Boxing Super Series that began in September. In the draw for opponents on July 8 in Monte Carlo, Usyk had drawn former WBO champ Huck; both fighters were hoping for this match-up. Super-middleweight fighters are also scheduled to participate in their own division. Usyk (13-0, 11 KO) retained his WBO title against Huck (40-5-1, 27 KO) on September 9 at Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin with a 10th-round TKO. Referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight at 2:18 of round 10. Usyk advances to the semifinal to fight against the winner of the Briedis vs Perez fight.
• Heavyweight Andriy Rudenko (31-3-0, 19 KO) lost by unanimous decision after 12 rounds for the vacant WBO international heavyweight title against Russia’s Alexander Povetkin (32-1-0, 23 KO), the former WBA heavyweight champion, on July 1 at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The winner must defend the title within 120 days of the victory.
• Welterweight Taras Shelestyuk (16-0-0, 9 KO) won by third-round TKO against Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez (15-3-0, 11 KO) of Mexico at the Omega Products International in Corona, Calif., on July 1.
• Welterweight Ivan Holub (13-1-0, 11 KO) lost by unanimous decision after eight rounds against Jamontay Clark (12-0-0, 7 KO) of the U.S.A. at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, on June 30.
• Super middleweight Andriy Velykovskiy (9-1-0, 4 KO) lost on points after six rounds against Daniel Scardina (10-0-0, 10 KO) of Italy at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, Italy, on June 24.
• Ukraine won six medals and topped the medals table with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the 2017 European Boxing Championships in Kharkiv on June 16-24. Super Heavyweight Viktor Vykhryst (+91) won gold against Frazer Edward Clarke of England; Oleksandr Khyzhniak (75 kg) won gold against Kamaran Shakhsuvarly of Azerbaijan; and Iurii Shestak (60 kg) won gold against Gabil Mamedov of Russia. Silver medalist Mykola Butsenko (56 kg) lost against Peter McGrail of England. Bronze medalists were Dmytro Zamotayev (52 kg) and Ievgeni Barabanov (69 kg). The competition attracted 232 boxers from 39 countries.
• Heavyweight Vladislav Sirenko (3-0-0, 3 KO) won his third professional boxing match against Jani Kagura (0-1-0, 0 KO) of Japan with a knockout in the first round (the fight was called by the referee at 27 seconds, following two successive left hooks that sent Kagura to the canvas) at Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town South Africa on June 30. Previously, Sirenko won by TKO against Peto Kapela (0-2-0, 0 KO) of South Africa on June 16 and won by KO in his debut professional fight against Emmanuel Mnengi (0-2-0, 0 KO) of South Africa on May 26.
• Lightweight Denys Berinchyk (4-0-0, 3 KO) won by unanimous decision after eight rounds against Lorenzo Parra (32-10-2, 19 KO) of Venezuela at Sporthall Budakalasz in Budakalasz, Hungary, on June 10. Also on the fightcard was featherweight Oleh Malinovsky (19-0-0, 5 KO), who won by unanimous decision after eight rounds against Isaias Santos Sampajo (21-13-0, 21 KO) of Brazil.
Futsal
• MFC Kherson is set for the main round of the UEFA Futsal Cup and is awaiting teams to conclude the preliminary round. Kherson earned a bye among 24 clubs with the highest coefficients (19th place, 5,501 points). The winners of the preliminary round (32 teams) will be drawn in six groups of four teams for one-venue mini-tournaments with the top two teams of each group advancing to the elite round before the final stage. Kherson has drawn Group 3 with Sporting CP (Portugal), Ekonomac Kragujevac (Serbia, group hosts) and Nikars Riga (Latvia). Matches are to be played on October 10-15. The top three teams in the Path A (four groups), will advance to the elite round.
Fencing
• At the Fencing World Championships in Leipzig, Germany, on July 19-26, Ukraine’s women’s saber team finished in sixth place after losing 43-45 against Russia, and Ukraine’s men’s épée team also finished in sixth place after losing 41-42 against Italy. Ukraine’s men’s foil team finished in ninth place after winning 45-36 against Poland, and Ukraine’s women’s epee team finished in 10th place after losing 34-45 against Italy. Ukraine’s men’s saber team finished in 10th place after losing 28-45 against Germany. In individual competition, Olga Kharlan won first place in the women’s saber event after defeating Azza Besbes of Tunisia 15-5 in the final, and Olena Kryvytska tied with Julia Beljeva of Estonia for third place in the women’s epee.
• Ukraine’s men’s épée team won silver after losing 32-33 against Russia at the European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 12-17. Ukraine’s men’s saber team finished in fifth place after its 45-38 win against Romania, while Ukraine’s women’s épée team finished in seventh place after it won 32-31 against Italy. Ukraine’s women’s saber team finished in fifth place after winning 45-43 against Spain. Ukraine’s men’s foil team finished in sixth place after it lost 37-45 against Poland. Olga Kharlan finished in 10th place in the women’s saber event after she lost 12-15 against Cecilia Berder of France in the third round.
• Olga Kharlan finished in ninth place in the women’s saber Grand Prix in Moscow on June 2. Kharlan lost in the third round against Chika Aoki of Japan 14-15.
• Olena Kryvytska finished in 10th place in the women’s épée at the Épée Grand Prix in Bogota, Colombia, on May 26. Kryvytska lost 9-15 against Alberta Santuccio of Italy in the third round, and Dzhoan Feybi Buzhura finished in 11th place after losing 13-15 against A Lam Shin of South Korea in the third round.
Beach volleyball
• Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova and Ievhenia Shchypkova competed at the Beach Volleyball World Championships on July 28 through August 6 in Vienna, Austria, based on the team’s performance during the regular season for 2016-2017. This is the third time in 10 years that Ukraine was represented at the world championships. Davidova and Shchypkova lost 0-2 (18-21, 16-21) in their opener against Tatyana Mashkova and Bakhtygul Samalikova of Kazakhstan, won 2-1 (21-13, 16-21, 15-7) against Cornelia Rimser and Lena Plesiutsching of Austria and won 2-1 (17-21, 21-16, 11-15) against Summer Ross and Brooke Sweat of the U.S.A.. The Ukrainian duo was eliminated 1-2 (21-18, 25-25, 11-15) against Elize Maia and Tainana Lima of Brazil in the round of 32. Davidova/Shchypkova were seeded in 20th place among 45 teams and have a world tour ranking of 31st place. Ukraine was also represented by Inna Makhno and Iryna Makhno; and in the men’s division, by Mykola Babich/Iaroslav Gordieiev and Oleksii Denin/Sergiy Popov.
Volleyball
• Ukraine’s women’s team is set to compete at the 2017 Women’s European Volleyball Championship on September 22 through October 1. The tournament is co-hosted by Azerbaijan and Georgia in Baku and Tbilisi, respectively, under the auspices of the European Volleyball Confederation. Ukraine is in Pool C with Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Diving
• Anna Pysmenksa won gold (303.30 points) and Anastasiia Nedobiga won bronze (291.65 points) in the women’s 3-meter springboard event at the LEN European Diving Championships in Kyiv on June 12-18 at Liko Sports Center. The team scored 366.55 points. Viktoriya Kesar and Oleksandr Gorshkovozov won silver in the team diving events (3-meter springboard synchronized and 10-meter platform synchronized, total 366.55 points). Kesar and Stanislav Oliferchyk won silver in the mixed pairs synchronized 3-meter springboard event (282.96 points). Illya Kvasha won gold in the men’s 1-meter springboard event (431.75 points) and silver in the men’s 3-meter springboard (484.30 points). Valeriia Liulko and Sofiia Lyskun won bronze in the mixed 10-meter synchronized platform dive (288.96 points). Oleg Kolodiy won bronze in the men’s 3-meter springboard (470.30 points), Kvasha and Kolodiy won silver (426.96 points) in the 3-meter synchronized springboard, and Maksym Dolhov and Gorshkovozov won gold in the men’s 10-meter synchronized platform (431.28 points). Ukraine finished in second place in the medal standings with three gold, four silver and three bronze medals. Twenty-three teams competed in the tournament.