PARALYMPIC
Ukraine tops medals table at skiing championships
Ukraine topped the medals table with 41 total medals – nine gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze medals – at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships on February 15-24 in Prince George, British Columbia. The competition includes biathlon and cross country skiing events for visually impaired and other disabilities. Liudmyla Liashenko and Taras Rad won three individual gold medals each. Liashenko in the women’s individual biathlon in standing, middle distance standing, and sprint standing, and Rad in the men’s individual biathlon sitting, middle distance sitting, and sprint sitting. Liashenko also won gold in the mixed cross country relay and two silver in the in women’s middle distance cross country, cross country sprint and bronze in the long distance cross country race. Oksana Shyshkova won gold in the middle distance cross country and two silver in women’s visually impaired cross country races.
Ukraine fielded a team of 37 athletes, with 12 men and seven women in biathlon, and 11 men and seven women in cross country. Per sport, in biathlon, Ukraine won seven gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals; and in cross country two gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals.
Oksana Masters, who is Ukrainian-born, but competes for the U.S.A., won five gold and one silver medal – two gold and one silver in biathlon; and three gold in cross country. (Masters also competes in paralympic rowing competitions.) The U.S. team fielded eight athletes and finished in second place in the medals standings with 15 medals (six gold, seven silver and two bronze).
SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING
Dancha wins silver in slalom at Worlds
Annamari Dancha won silver in the women’s parallel slalom at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championship on February 1-10 in Park City, Utah. Dancha, 28, is the first to medal for Ukraine in snowboarding at the world championship level. She barely qualified for the competition, having made it to the 15th spot out of 16. Dancha qualified for sixth place (out of 14 athletes) going into the parallel giant slalom, and was eliminated in the quarterfinal.
Oleksandr Abramenko, a 2018 Olympic gold medalist, won silver in the men’s aerial finals, where he landed a double full-full-full jump that earned him 126.24 points. (This was a first for an Olympic athlete representing Ukraine to win gold in aerials; Anton Kushnir, born in Rivne Oblast, won gold in aerials at the 2014 Olympics while representing Belarus and holds the highest score in Olympic history.)
TENNIS
Svitolina exits tight Dubai semifinal
Elina Svilotina lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-7(3) against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the semifinal of the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on February 22. Svitolina made it to the quarterfinal without losing one set, but she had lost her serve early and made 10 unforced errors during the first set. Svitolina is a two-time tournament champion (2017 and 2018).
BASKETBALL
Mykhailiuk signs deal with Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons announced on February 6 that the team had acquired forward Sviatoslav “Svi” Mykhailiuk, 21, a future second-round draft pick from the L.A. Lakers in exchange for guard/forward Reggie Bullock. The 6-foot-8, 205-pound Ukrainian was drafted 47th overall by the Lakers in the 2018 NBA Draft (he signed a three-year $4.6 million rookie scale contract with the Lakers on July 10, 2018). He brings his experience at Kansas University (2014-2018), where he averaged 14.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his senior year, when he earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors.
During the 2017-2018 season at Kansas, he set the 3-point record with 115, and ranked first in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage (.444). He has also played on the Ukrainian National Team during the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain and for the U-20 junior Ukrainian National Team at the 2016 and 2017 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championships.
Ukraine advances to EuroBasket qualifier
Ukraine finished in fifth place in Group I of the second round of the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers that concluded on February 25. Ukraine won 90-84 on February 22 against Montenegro, and won 85-84 in overtime against Slovenia on February 25. After 12 matches played, Ukraine (five wins, seven losses with 909 points for and 892 against, with a +17 point differential, and 17 points overall) sits in the No. 5 spot out of six teams in Group I, with Spain in the top spot (22 points), followed by Turkey (20), Montenegro (19), Latvia (19) and Slovenia (15). The bottom-three teams advanced to the EuroBasket 2021 (qualifiers begin on November 25 and conclude on February 23, 2021), and the top-three teams advanced to the Basketball World Cup in China on August 31 through September 15.
EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC WINTER FESTIVAL
Ukraine sends 22 athletes to Sarajevo
Stepan Kinash won bronze in boys’ biathlon individual 12.5-kilometer pursuit (44:16.3 seconds) and Anastasiia Arkhipova won bronze in the girls’ figure skating at the 15th European Youth Olympic Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on February 10-15. Arkhipova scored 58.58 in the short program and 103.15 points in the free skating event for a total of 161.73 points. The festival attracted 911 athletes (ages 13-17) from 46 countries (22 athletes represent Ukraine) and featured Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating and snowboarding. Arsen Bochok, the world champion biathlete, was the flag-bearer for Ukraine during the official opening ceremonies.
JUDO
Ukraine finishes in fourth place in Zagreb
Mykola Holoborodko (50 kg) and Vladyslav Kazimirov (60 kg) won gold medals in their respective divisions at the Cadet European Judo Cup on Zagreb, Croatia, on March 9-10. In the final matches, Holoborodko won against Romain Valadier Picard of France in 10 seconds, and Kazimirov won against Mateja Stosic of Serbia. Said-Magomed Khalidov (50 kg) won bronze after winning against Alexandru Matei of Romania; Vladislav Kolobov (55 kg) won bronze after winning against Yafim Vitkousko of Belarus, Serhii Nebotov (66 kg) won bronze after winning against Ionut Botofei of Romania (in 39 seconds), and Tymur Valieiev (81 kg) won bronze after winning against Arnaud Aregba of France (in 30 seconds).
In the women’s division, Yuliia Kurchenko (63 kg) won bronze after winning against countryman Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko and Alisa Videneieva (70 kg) won bronze after winning against Jasmin Heinz of Germany.
Ukraine finished in fourth place in the medals table with two gold and six bronze medals. The tournament attracted 721 athletes (467 men, 254 women) from 34 countries. Ukraine fielded a team of 38 men and 13 women.
Ukraine wins gold and silver in Rome
Fedir Panko (+100 kg) won gold and Andrii Kolesnyk (+100 kg) won silver at the men’s European Judo Open in Rome on February 16-17. In the final, Panko won by ippon against Kolesnyk. In the semifinal, Panko defeated Yerkebulan Abdulla of Kazakhstan and Kolesnyk defeated Soslan Bostanov of Russia. The competition attracted 275 athletes from 46 countries. Ukraine fielded a team of 10 judoka.
Zantaraia wins bronze at Paris Grand Slam
Georgii Zantaraia (66 kg) won bronze at the Paris Grand Slam on February 9-10, after defeating Abdula Abdulzhalilov of Russia in the third-place match. The Ukrainian lost the semifinal against Denis Vieru of Moldova. Ukraine sent a team of 11 athletes (eight men and three women) to the competition that attracted 570 athletes (334 men and 236 women) from 97 countries.
BOXING
Super lightweight Redkach has first-round KO
Super lightweight Ivan Redkach (22-4-1, 17 KO) won by first-round knockout of Tyrone Harris (26-14, 16 KO) of the U.S.A. on February 16 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Redkach dropped Harris three times in the opening round before referee Thomas Taylor stopped the fight (at 2:49) that was scheduled for eight rounds.
Lomachenko fight against Commey canceled
Lightweight WBC and WBA champion Vasyl Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KO) was set to fight against IBF champion Richard Commey (28-2, 25 KO) of France on April 12 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. However, due to an injury he sustained in his latest title win against Isa Chaniev (13-2, 6 KO) of Russia on February 2, Commey has been ruled out.
Lomachenko’s team and promoters at Top Rank have confirmed that a fight will happen against WBA mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KO) of England, who is promoted by Matchroom Boxing. If the two promoters and boxers were unable to come to a deal, the WBA was expected to intervene.
Light heavyweight Gvozdyk named No.1
WBC Light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (16-0, 13 KO) on March 11 was named by BoxRec.com as the “best light heavyweight boxer of the world.” Gvodzyk is scheduled for his first title-defense fight against Doudou Ngumbu (38-8, 14 KO) of France on March 30 in Philadelphia.
SOCCER
Dynamo advances to Round of 16
Dynamo Kyiv lost 0-3 against Chelsea in the first-leg Round of 16 match of the UEFA Europa League on March 7 and lost 0-5 in the second-leg match on March 14.
Dynamo won 1-0 on February 21 in the second-leg match of the Europa League Round of 32 and advanced to the Round of 16 after Fran Sol scored in the 32nd minute. Dynamo had played to a 2-2 draw with Olympiacos on February 14 at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, during the first-leg match.
Shakhtar Donetsk lost the second-leg match 1-4 against Eintracht Frankfurt on February 21 in Frankfurt, knocking the Ukrainian team out of competition. Luka Jovic opened the scoring for Frankfurt in the 23rd minute and Sebastien Haller took a penalty kick in the 27th minute. Shakhtar came to life in the second half, after Junior Moraes netted a goal in the 64th minute. Haller scored again in the 80th minute and Ante Rebic capped Shakhtar’s exit in the 88th minute. Frankfurt opted for a 2-1-4-3 formation and Skhatar used a 1-3-2-4 position. Shakhtar and Eintracht tied 2-2 on February 14 at Metalist Oblasny Sport Complex in Kharkiv.
Dynamo Kyiv youth team advances to Round of 16
Dynamo Kyiv won 3-0 against Juventus (Italy) in the play-off round of the UEFA Youth League on February 20 in Kyiv. Artur Vashchyshyn opened the scoring for the Ukrainian side in the sixth minute and the score remained 1-0 until the 69th minute when Serhiy Buletsa scored. Denys Popov completed the treble of goals in the 85th minute. Dynamo dominated the match statistically, with 11 shots on target and seven corner kicks, compared to Juventus with three corner kicks and four total attempts on goal, with three shots wide of making it count. Dynamo advanced to the Round of 16 against Hoffenheim (Germany) where Dynamo tied 0-0 on March 12 in Hoffenheim, but was eliminated during penalty-kicks 2-4. The final tournament is scheduled for April 2-29 in Nyon, Switzerland.