Chronicle

It's time for the main meetings at the volleyball world championship

Tomorrow in the semi-final matches of the Volleyball World Championship among men's teams in Italy, the hosts of the competition will compete with the current gold holders, the Brazilians, and the offenders of our national team, the Serbs, will play against Cuba, which sensationally continues to fight for medals.

At the end of the third group stage, the most interesting was the battle between the team from Liberty Island and Bulgaria. Everything was decided in a tiebreak - 3:2 (22:25, 25:23, 26:28, 30:28, 15:11) in favor of Cuba. And today the Bulgarians will play with the Russian national team in the first match of the tournament for 5th-8th places. The second pair were the USA and Germany. Moreover, these meetings will take place in Modena, where the Russians began the final tournament of the world championship. The main matches of the championship will be witnessed by the Romans, and in Florence Argentina - Spain, France - Czech Republic will play for 9th-12th places.

Bobsledder Abramovich will miss the season

Russian bobsledder, participant of the 2010 Olympic Games Dmitry Abramovich will miss the current season. The reason for this was health problems. This year the athlete underwent three operations for an inguinal hernia. The first is before the Olympics in Vancouver, the second is in May. Then the doctors placed an endoprosthesis on both sides of the athlete, the so-called “mesh”. But due to the fact that Dmitry began to train at an accelerated pace, a relapse occurred. And in July a new operation was required.

“I don’t presume to predict how quickly the recovery process will go when I regain my previous condition. I made a decision for myself: I won’t rush. This is only the first season of the new Olympic cycle, and there is still time to prepare for the 2014 Games in Sochi. In any case, since I’m already training now, this season will definitely not be a lost one for me. Perhaps I will be able to perform at the post-New Year stages of the World Cup, at the European and World Championships,” the All Sport agency quotes Abramovich as saying.

It is appropriate to recall that after the 2010 Olympics, two experienced Russian pilots announced their retirement - Olympic medalist in Turin and Vancouver Alexander Zubkov and World Cup winner Evgeniy Popov. The leadership of the team hoped that the place of the leader would be taken by three-time world junior champion and participant in the Olympic Games in Vancouver Dmitry Abramovich, but for now this will have to wait.

Dementieva leaves Beijing

Beijing 2008 Olympic champion tennis player Elena Dementieva lost to former world number one from Serbia Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the prestigious tournament in Beijing - 7:6 (7:2), 7:6 (7:4), failing to make it to the quarterfinals .

Another Russian, Nadezhda Petrova, also refused to participate in the competition due to a right foot injury. Our athlete’s opponent, Latvian tennis player Anastasia Sevastova, advanced to the quarterfinal round without a fight. The match with Francesca Schiavone ended in failure for our Vera Dushevina. After winning the opening set, Dushevina was clearly weaker in the next two games - 6:4, 3:6, 1:6.

Thanks to her successful performance, this year's Roland Garros winner Francesca Schiavone received a ticket to the final tournament in Doha. Commenting on this fact, Schiavone said: “I am incredibly happy and very touched by this event. This is a special moment in my life and it means a lot to me and my team. I wanted to prolong this moment because this is one of the most exciting events in my life. The opportunity to go to Doha means that I am among the best players in the world. This is an amazing feeling,” the official BTA website reports Schiavone’s words.

The matches of yesterday's gaming day in the Beijing tournament took place in thick smog. Competition organizers were forced to turn on floodlights to enhance the lighting on the playing fields. Sensors at the US Embassy in China recorded dangerous levels of air pollution, while a Chinese monitoring center found no major abnormalities. However, representatives of the BTA and the ATP said that they would analyze the current situation and monitor the health of the competition participants.

Prepared by Olga ERMOLINA and Ilya TRISVIATSKY