PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukraine is in 11th place in the medals standings with 35 medals (six gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze) at the Baku 2015 European Games on June 12-28. Ukraine’s team is represented by 241 athletes, among the 6,000 competitors representing 50 participating countries in 20 sports disciplines. Twelve of the sports – archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball and wresting – will offer qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Alina Stadnik Makhynia (69 kg) won gold in women’s freestyle wrestling against Ilana Kratysh of Israel 3-1, and Tetyana Lavrenchuk (58 kg) and Yuliia Tkach (63 kg) won silver medals. Dimitriy Timchenko (98 kg) and Zhan Beleniuk (85 kg) won silver medals and Dmytro Pyshkov (75 kg) won bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling; Valerii Andriitsev (97 kg) and Vasyl Shuptar (61 kg) won bronze medals in men’s freestyle wrestling.
Hanna Solovei won silver in women’s cycling (33:03.37 seconds) in the women’s individual time trial; Andriy Grivko won silver in the men’s road race, finishing with a time of 5:27.25 seconds.
In artistic gymnastics, Oleg Verniaiev won gold in the men’s individual all-around competition (90.332 points: floor, 14.533; rings, 14.9; parallel bars, 14.933; pommel horse, 15.9; vault, 15.3; and horizontal bar, 14.766) and gold in men’s individual vault (15.266 points). In team competition, Verniaiev, Igor Radivilov and Mykyta Yermak won silver (177.429 points).
In rhythmic gymnastics, Ukraine’s women’s team (Yevgenia Gomon, Anastaiya Voznyak, Olena Dmytrash, Oleksandra Griasova and Valeriaa Gudym) won silver in the group ribbon, and bronze in the group hoop and clubs events. Ganna Rizatdinova won two silver medals – in the individual clubs and individual ball events.
In synchronized swimming pairs, Yelyzaveta Yakhno and Yana Nariezhna won bronze medals (161.65 points), and in the team event, Ukraine’s (Nariezhna, Yakhno, Veronika Gryshko, Valeriia Aprieleva, Valeriya Berezhna, Alina Shynkarenko, Kateryna Tkachova and Anna Yesipova) won bronze (159.086 points). In the free combination team event, Ukraine (Aprileva, Gryshko, Shynkarenko, Yakhno, Tkachova, Narieshna, Yesipova and Berezhna) won bronze with a final score of 86.8667 points.
Mariya Povkh and Anastasiia Todorova won bronze in the women’s kayak double 200-meter final (37.719 seconds); Ukraine’s four-person kayak 500-meter team (Mariia Kichasova, Todorova, Povkh and Inna Hryshchun) finished in sixth place.
Ukraine’s mixed archery team (Lidiia Sichenikova and Heorhiy Ivanytskyy) won 5-1 in the bronze medal match against Slovenia; Ukraine’s men’s team (Ivanytskyy, Markiyan Ivashko and Victor Ruban) won gold after winning 5-4 against Spain in the final that went to a shootout round; Ukraine won 5-4 against Russia to win the bronze medal in women’s team competition (Sichenikova, Anastasia Pavlova and Veronika Marchenko).
Swimmer Andrii Khlopstov won gold in men’s 50-meter butterfly (23.90 seconds) and Maryna Kolesnykova won bronze in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke (2:11.91 seconds).
In diving, Marharita Dzhusova and Diana Shelestyuk won bronze in women’s three-meter synchronized springboard (264.87 points); Shelestyuk won bronze in women’s one-meter springboard (388.45 points).
In table tennis, Ukraine’s Lei Kou won bronze in men’s singles after winning 4-2 against Paul Drinkhall of Great Britain in the bronze medal match (5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 22-20).
Ukraine’s boxers – Dmytro Zamotayev (46-49 kg, light flyweight), Oleksandr Khyzhniak (81 kg, light heavyweight) and Viktor Petrov (64 kg, light welterweight) – won bronze medals.
Olena Sayko (64 kg) won silver in women’s sambo after losing 2-0 against Tatsiana Matsko of Belarus in the final; Razmik Tonoyan (+100 kg) lost 2-0 against Vasif Safarbayov of Azerbaijan in the semifinal and tied for bronze with Yury Rybak of Belarus. Judoka Maryna Cherniak (48 kg) tied for a bronze medal against Eva Czernoviczki of Hungary.
Fencer Andriy Yagodka won gold in the men’s individual saber event after winning 15-10 in the final against Tiberiu Dolniceanu of Romania.
The European Games in Baku has drawn the criticism of human rights observers after political opponents were jailed and foreign journalists critical of the games were barred from entering Azerbaijan.
As of press time, there were three days left of the competition. The report on the final days will appear in the next Sportsline.