Translated material
Chronicle
Tennis tournaments of the US Open Series that precedes the US Open (starts on August 31) continue overseas. Let us remind you that the three strongest players in the overall standings of this series will each have the right to earn additional prize money at the Grand Slam competitions in New York.
This week, women play in Cincinnati at a Premier 5 tournament with a total bonus of $2 million. In the second round, Elena Dementieva defeated Belgian qualifier Yanina Wickmayer - 6:3, 6:4, in the Russian derby Vera Zvonareva was stronger than Alisa Kleybanova - - 6:4, 1:6, 7:5. Two more of our tennis players failed. Anna Chakvetadze failed to cope with the ninth-seeded representative of Belarus Victoria Azarenka - 4:6, 2:6, and Maria Kirilenko lost to the fifth racket of the competition, Serbian Jelena Jankovic - 6:7 (6:8), 3:6. At the same stage, Belgian Kim Clijsters, who had previously led the world classification, returned to professional sports after a two-year break, and defeated Patti Schneider (Switzerland) - 6:2, 7:5. Last night, Moscow time, Kim met with our Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In the men's Masters tournament with a total prize fund of $3 million in Montreal, Canada, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who ranks second in the ATP rankings, played only seven games with his compatriot David Ferrer in the second round. The match was interrupted with the score 4:3 in favor of Nadal due to a leg injury in his opponent. Igor Andreev was defeated by American Andy Roddick - 1:6, 6:7 (3:7). Mikhail Youzhny, after failing in the lengthy tiebreaker of the opening game, then clearly outperformed his opponent Jonathan Isner (USA) - 6:7 (8:10), 6:1, 6:3.
Kaliningrad welcomes European beach-volley masters
The European Championship among youth teams (age category U-23) kicked off in Kaliningrad with group stage matches, which will last until August 16. Russia was able to field six duets at this tournament, choosing the maximum possible quota. For women, this is Victoria Biryukova - Ksenia Petrova (Dynamo-Yantar, Kaliningrad), Svetlana Popova - Evgenia Ukolova (VK Mytishchi - Volleyball-Primorye, Vladivostok), winner of three stages of the national championship 2009 Anna Vozakova -- Ekaterina Khomyakova (“VK “Obninsk”). In the men's competition, the fight for medals began with Daniil Kuvichka - Grigory Goncharov (TsR PVS, St. Petersburg), Alexander Likholetov - Alexey Pastukhov (Mytishchi) and Alexey Yutvalin - Sergey Kostyukhin (Sibir-Volei, Novosibirsk - "Mytishchi")
Ukolova is the current European champion in this category, although last year she won the title on the sand courts of Portugal in tandem with Maria Bratkova, who had already passed the age limit. It should be noted that many participants in the Baltic championship have already achieved good results at the adult level, playing in world and European series tournaments. Ukolova confidently started her title defense, defeating the Estonian pair Kiens/Kulm together with Popova - 21:15, 21:12. But Vozakova and Khomyakova, who performed well in the national championship, unexpectedly lost to the Spaniards Baquerizo/Liliana - 22:24, 16:21.
Ex-army player Andersen signed a contract with Houston
Two-time (2006, 2008) Euroleague basketball champion with CSKA, center David Andersen signed a 2+1 contract with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association.
The Australian center with a Danish passport played in the ranks of the “red-blues” for four years (2004-2008), and spent the last season for the Spanish “Barcelona”. In 2002, Andersen was drafted by Atlanta, which a month ago transferred the rights to this basketball player to Houston for $2 million and the right to select in the second round of the future draft. The Rockets also had to pay Barcelona $500,000 in compensation for Andersen to buy out his contract.
The amount of David’s agreement with Houston has not been officially announced, but it was previously reported that an offer was made to him, according to which the Australian would receive $4.8 million over two seasons. If David, by mutual agreement of the parties, remains at the club for the third year, he will earn another $2.7 million.
The position of the main center in Houston was occupied by the Chinese giant Yao Ming, who will miss the upcoming season due to a leg injury. Andersen is called upon to replace the center from the Middle Kingdom.
VFW dedicated the 2009 Super Cup to Neil Fasakhov
At a meeting of the executive committee of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation (VFV) held yesterday, it was decided to hold the second Super Cup among men's teams on October 3 in Kazan and dedicate it to the best student of Tatarstan volleyball in history, Nil Fasakhov.
The current champion of Russia, Zenit Kazan, and the winner of the national Cup, the capital's Dynamo, will meet in the game for the Super Cup. It’s interesting that last year the first Super Cup in Moscow was contested by the same clubs, but then the Blue and Whites were the champions, and the Kazan team were the owners of the cup. The trophy went to Dynamo, who won with a score of 3:0. The match for the 2009 Super Cup actually opens a new club season, since before this game in September only the preliminary stage of the Russian Open Cup will take place without the participation of volleyball players of the national team.
The now living Nil Fasakhov began his glorious career in Dynamo Kazan, from where he moved to CSKA, where he played in 1956-1963. Honored Master of Sports Fasakhov is the 1960 world champion, bronze medalist of the 1956 World Cup and Euro 1958, two-time (1960, 1962) winner of the European Champions Cup. Four-time (1958, 1960-1962) champion of the USSR, winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR-1963. The peak of Fasakhov’s career was the 1960 season; at the World Championship he was recognized as the best player of the tournament. After completing his playing career, the famous volleyball player became a coach, under his leadership the team of the capital's Moscow Higher Technical School made it to the major league and won the 1972 CCMR Cup. Fasakhov devoted most of his coaching life to working with youth.