Chronicle

Volleyball CSKA may cease to exist

The most titled team in world volleyball, 13-time winner of the European Champions Cup, 34-time national champion may soon cease to exist. On July 24, the deadline for a team’s application to participate in the Russian Championship expired.

In recent years, the men's CSKA has been dragging out a miserable existence. The team dropped to the third division of the national championship (major league “B”), where it played in the 2006/07 season, but information appeared several times that some investors were interested in saving the club. According to the championship regulations established by the All-Russian Volleyball Federation (VFV), the deadline for submitting applications for participation in the upcoming 2007/08 national championship was set at April 30. Nevertheless, the VFW abandoned the formal approach and, in the interests of saving CSKA, extended the application period for the “red-blues” until July 24. Alas, no documents were received from the army club.

If the men's CSKA really ceases to exist, it will be a real tragedy for many experienced volleyball fans, the illustrious champions who forged the glory of this team, and will be extremely unpleasant news for some active athletes. The leading clubs in the Super League still feature players who became national champions with CSKA in the mid-1990s - Konstantin Ushakov, Stanislav Dineikin, Konstantin Sidenko, Alexander Berezin.

The CSKA women's team, which, unlike the stronger sex, still has sponsors, for the second year in a row, for unconvincing reasons, refuses to play in the European Champions League. At the same time, Russia loses its place in the elite club tournament. Ilya TRISVIATSKY

At the second category BTA tournament, which opens the women's part of the US Open Series, two Russian women successfully overcame the first round barrier. Maria Kirilenko beat the representative of Belarus Victoria Azarenka - 3:6, 7:5, 6:4, Yaroslava Shvedova, who entered the main draw of the competition through the qualification barrier, prevailed over Yulia Vakulenko (Ukraine) - 3:6, 6:3 , 6:2. Olga Puchkova and Elena Bovina stopped fighting for the title after the matches of the opening round. The first lost to the seventh-seeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik - 3:6, 4:6, the second lost to the Chinese Shuai Pen - 3:6, 4:6. The first racket of the competition, Anna Chakvetadze, was released from the need to take part in the matches of the 1/16 finals and in the match for reaching the top eight players of the tournament late yesterday evening Moscow time she met with Eleni Danilidou (Greece).

The second day of play at the men's tournament in Indianapolis (USA) turned out to be successful for three of our compatriots. Dmitry Tursunov upset court owner Michael Russell - 6:3, 7:5, Teimuraz Gabashvili defeated the wild card holder, American Rajiv Ram - 7:5, 3:6, 6:4, Igor Kunitsyn broke the resistance of the Colombian qualifier » Santiago Giraldo -- 6:2, 1:6, 7:5. The day before, Evgeniy Korolev also secured passage to the second round by beating Justin Gimelstob - 6:2, 6:4. Ilya TRISVIATSKY

In the Women's National Basketball League match between the Seattle Storm and the Washington Mystics, the scoring record was repeated. Storm center Lauren Jackson scored 47 points. However, the effective play of the center did not save her team from defeat in overtime - 96:97.

In total, there have been only five cases in WNBA history when a basketball player managed to score 40 or more points in a game. The record was set by Diana Taurasi, who also scored 47 points a year ago, but then her Phoenix club played three overtimes in the match against Houston.

Meanwhile, both Diana Taurasi and Lauren Jackson may appear in the Russian Championship in the upcoming season. In the last championship they defended the colors of Spartak near Moscow, with which they won gold in the national championship. Then the matter was not without scandal. Jackson, after she was declared in the Russian championship, managed to play in the South Korean championship, which is prohibited by the regulations. Andrey VDOVIN

A club from Kazakhstan reached the second qualifying round of the Champions League for the first time. In the first match with the Georgian Olimpi, Astana failed to open the scoring. But in the second, she scored three unanswered goals and advanced to the next stage, where she will meet Rosenborg. BATE had a more difficult task. However, the Belarusian champion managed to overcome the two-goal handicap, scoring a third goal in extra time, and left Apoel out of the tournament.

The first sensation almost took place in the Champions League. Dinamo Zagreb, which sold its main forward Eduardo da Silva to Arsenal this summer for 25 million euros, almost knocked out the modest Azerbaijani Khazar. After the first match, a draw was recorded, and in the second, the guests managed to open the scoring in the 16th minute. The Croats barely equalized the score only after the break, but managed to achieve a decisive advantage only in overtime. The debut in the Champions League for the Montenegrin club was successful. Zeta, scoring a goal in the 89th minute, managed to beat Kaunas on aggregate, and the Lithuanian club was eliminated in the first qualifying round for the third time.

Champions League. First qualifying round. Return matches. “Astana” (Kazakhstan) – “Olympi” (Georgia) – 3:0 (first match – 0:0), BATE (Belarus) – “Apoel” (Cyprus) – 3:0 (0:2 ), "Rangers" (Andorra) -- "Sheriff" (Moldova) -- 0:3, "Kaunas" (Lithuania) -- "Zeta" (Montenegro) -- 3:2 (1:3), "Sarajevo" (Bosnia) - Marsaxlok (Malta) - 3:1 (6:0), Dinamo (Zagreb, Croatia) - Khazar (Azerbaijan) - 3:1 (1:1). Andrey VDOVIN