Buryak failed his European debut

The first matches of the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League took place on Tuesday. There were immediate sensations. The old-timer of the tournament, Dynamo Kiev, failed to win at home against the Swiss champion Thun - 2:2. The Kiev team started the meeting with attacks, but immediately almost paid for their inattention in defense. And then Dynamo’s defensive formations didn’t look their best. Twice the home team took the lead, and both times the Swiss champion equalized. Moreover, in the first case, the Brazilian defender of the Kiev team, Rodolfo, sent the ball into his own goal. At the end of the match, Dynamo had several opportunities to score the winning goal, but Thun goalkeeper, Bosnian Jakupovic, was at his best.

“We played with such an advantage that the result of the match should have been completely different,” noted Leonid Buryak, for whom this match was the first European match as the head coach of Dynamo. — In the end, it turned out that we created a lot of scoring chances, but there were serious problems with implementation. But we still have a return match.”

Another unexpected result was recorded in the match between principal rivals - Cypriot Anorthosis and Turkish Trabzonspor. The Cypriot team won a historic victory over vice-champion Turkey - 3:1. True, Trabzonspor striker Yattara was sent off from the field in the first half for two yellow cards.

Champions League. 2nd qualifying round. First matches. "Dynamo" (Kiev, Ukraine) -- "Thun" (Switzerland) -- 2:2, "Anorthosis" (Cyprus) -- "Trabzonspor" (Turkey) -- 3:1, "Kaunas" (Lithuania) -- "Liverpool" (England) -- 1:3, "Dynamo" (Tbilisi, Georgia) -- "Brøndby" (Denmark) -- 0:2, "Anderlecht" (Belgium) -- "Neftchi" (Azerbaijan) -- 5:0, “Vålerenga” (Norway) – “Haka” (Finland) – 1:0 .

Vinokurov moved to the Spanish cycling group

Kazakh cyclist Alexander Vinokurov parted ways with the T-Mobile team and signed a three-year contract with the Spanish Liberty Seguros. Vinokourov, who took fifth place at the last Tour de France, has long been unhappy with the fact that the management of his former team plans to rely on Jan Ullrich for a long time. Now the Kazakh racer plans to become a leader in the Liberty Seguros. “My goal is clear - to win the Tour de France,” Vinokourov said when signing the contract. — My new team includes athletes who ride well in the mountains, as well as those who do excellent time trials. We discussed my calendar for 2006 with the team, and I was guaranteed support and assistance in preparing for the Tour de France. Konstantin IVANOV

Genoa and Messina are excluded from Serie A

There is a growing possibility that Messina Football Club will be expelled from the top division of the Italian champions. The club's management was unable to provide financial guarantees for the coming season, and the team was demoted. Yesterday, another appeal of Messina, submitted to the National Olympic Committee of Italy, was rejected. Now the islanders' hopes are tied to the regional administrative court.

Messina is not the only Italian club that could be expelled from Serie A. The same fate could befall Torino, which is also awaiting a decision from the Italian NOC. But Genoa’s situation is completely bad. The club was caught fixing a match with Venice; by decision of the league's disciplinary commission, it was deprived of its won place in Serie A and banished to Serie C 1. Genoa president Enrico Preziosi, general manager Stefano Capozucca, and Venezia director Francesco dal Sin have been suspended for five years. Venezia players Martin Leysal and Massimo Borgobellou have been suspended for five and six months respectively. Andrey VDOVIN

Monya reunited with Khryapa

Russian national basketball player Sergei Monya signed a contract with the NBA club Portland Trail Blazers. The agreement is for the standard three years for an NBA rookie, and financial terms were not disclosed. Portland selected Monya 23rd overall in last year's draft. However, the basketball player chose to spend another year in the Russian CSKA. Monya's contract with the army team was supposed to be valid for another three years. However, there was a clause in it according to which the player could leave for the NBA early.

One Russian is already playing for Portland - another ex-army player and friend of Sergei Monya, Viktor Khryapa. However, things didn’t go very well for him last season - he missed a significant part of the championship due to injuries. In turn, Monya will become the fourth Russian in the NBA. In addition to him and Khryapa, Andrei Kirilenko (Utah Jazz) and Pavel Podskolzin (Dallas Mavericks) play in the strongest league in the world. Andrey VDOVIN

Isinbayeva was presented with a diamond

The organizers of the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Stockholm presented Russian Elena Isinbaeva with a one-carat diamond. This prize is awarded to an athlete who manages to break the Stockholm stadium record. This time the Russian jumper achieved a height of 4 m 79 cm. The previous stadium record in the high jump belonged to Russian Svetlana Feofanova - 4 m 78 cm - and was set three years ago. Isinbayeva’s attempt to surprise the Swedish public with a new world record (5 m 1 cm) was unsuccessful. “Today's competition was difficult for me. After the world record in London, where I conquered a five-meter height on July 22, I feel tired,” Isinbayeva admitted. After the Swedish tournament, the athlete intends to focus on preparing for the World Championships in Helsinki and therefore will not participate in any competitions.

The second Russian woman to celebrate her victory in Stockholm was runner Tatyana Andrianova. She covered a distance of 800 m in 1 minute. 57.80 seconds, ahead of Hazel Clark from the USA (1:58.59) and Maria Mutola from Mozambique (1:59.08). Olga ERMOLINA