Translated material
Chronicle
The draw for the final tournament of the Women's Volleyball World Championship, which will be held from October 29 to November 14 next year, took place in the capital of Japan. Led by head coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin, the Russian national team will go to the Land of the Rising Sun as the current champion of the planet.
Half of the teams participating in the World Cup were distributed into groups based on their places in the world rankings even before the draw. For the Russians, the situation can be called successful: at the second stage, Kuzyutkin’s team avoids meeting with such strong opponents as the winner of the Beijing Olympics Brazil, the champion and vice-champion of Europe Italy, Holland, and will not have to play before the playoffs with strong Americans and Cubans.
Here is the composition of the groups of the first stage: “A” (Tokyo) - Japan, Serbia, Poland, Peru, Algeria, Costa Rica; “B” (Hamamatsu) - Brazil, Italy, Holland, Kenya, Puerto Rico, Czech Republic; “C” (Matsumoto) - USA, Cuba, Germany, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Croatia; “D” (Osaka) - China, Russia, Korea, Dominican Republic, Türkiye, Canada. The Russians will begin the championship with a game against the Dominicans.
The four best teams from each six advance to the next round. They form two new groups according to the scheme “A+D, C+B”. These eights take into account the results of matches played between the opponents at the initial stage. Based on the results of the second stage, semi-finalists will be determined, as well as teams that will compete for 5th-8th and 9th-12th places.
The Final Eight will be held in Kaliningrad
The All-Russian Volleyball Federation has determined the venue for the Final Eight of the Russian Open Cup among men's teams named after Konstantin Reva. This is the westernmost large city in the country - Kaliningrad. The ultra-modern Yantarny Sports Palace with a capacity of 7,200 spectators was recently built here, the site of which has already been tested by volleyball players at the preliminary stage of the National Cup.
The draw for the quarterfinal pairs took place. On December 24, Dynamo-Yantar - Zenit, Ural - Iskra will meet. The next day they will play Gazprom-Yugra - Dynamo M, Lokomotiv NS - Fakel. The winners of the pairs, whose matches took place on the same day, will compete in the semi-finals on December 26, with the final scheduled for the 27th. The cup, the winner of which will qualify for the 2010/11 Champions League, is being played for the first time in the Final Eight format.
It is interesting that the teams of the strongest four according to the results of the 2008/09 Super League (Zenit, Iskra, Fakel and Dynamo M) were not among the “seeded” before the draw for the Final Eight, as they were unanimously ranked in their quintets at the semi-final stage took second place. Let us recall that then all four teams of neighboring countries invited to participate (Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia) were unable to qualify for the decisive stage.
The Russians will play against the hosts of the World Cup
The draw for the 2010 World Championship among women's basketball teams took place in Karlovy Vary, according to the official website of the tournament. The ceremony was attended by players and coaches of national teams, representatives of national federations, FIBA, the organizing committee and the Czech cities where the championship matches will take place. The 16 teams participating in the preliminary stage of the tournament were divided into four groups. Silver medalist of EuroBasket 2009, the Russian team will perform in Group D at the preliminary stage along with the teams of the Czech Republic, Argentina and Japan.
Results of the 2010 World Cup draw: Group “A” - Canada, Belarus, China, Australia. Group "B" - Senegal, Greece, USA, France. Group "C" - Mali, South Korea, Brazil, Spain. Group "D" - Japan, Czech Republic, Argentina, Russia.
Malkin helped the Penguins win
Hockey. NHL. Regular season. Nashville -- Detroit -- 3:1, Toronto -- Islanders -- 3:4 OT, Rangers -- Columbus -- 7:4 -- Anisimov "R" (1 +2), "Ottawa" -- "Washington" -- 4:3 OT -- Ovechkin "W" (0+1), "Florida" -- "Pittsburgh" -- 2:3 OT -- Malkin "P" (0+2), “St. Louis” — “Boston” — 2:4, “Dallas” — “Carolina” — 2:0, “Edmonton” — “Phoenix” — 4:0, “Colorado” – “Philadelphia” – 5:4, “Anaheim” – “Calgary” – 3:2 B.
Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin, who scored two assists in the NHL regular season match with Florida, helped the Penguins strengthen their leading position in the Atlantic Division. The Rangers beat Columbus big time on their ice, one of the New Yorkers' seven goals was scored by Russian Artem Anisimov, and he also had two assists. Russian goalkeepers only lost that night: Semyon Varlamov, having reflected 33 out of 37 shots, got only one point for Washington, and Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix) stopped 21 out of 25 shots.
Bryant and James named NBA Players of the Week
Basketball. NBA. Regular season. "Memphis" - "Sacramento" - 116:105, "San Antonio" - "Milwaukee" - 112:98, "Portland" - "Chicago" - 122:98, "Clippers" - " Minnesota" -- 91:87.
Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant and Cleveland forward LeBron James were named the best players of the week in the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively, the league's official website reports. Bryant helped his team to three wins and no losses last week, averaging 29.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists. On November 19, the Lakers leader surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the list of the most successful players in the history of the club.
James' weekly numbers were 34.3 points (58.3 field goal percentage), 5.8 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game. The Cavaliers suffered their only defeat in four meetings in Washington (91:108).