Date
Author
Подготовили Андрей ВДОВИН и Илья ТРИСВЯТСКИЙ
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Preserved copy
Translated material
Week calendar
The tests of the Rubin leader will continue in the eighth round. After the victory in Moscow over Dynamo, the Kazan team hosts the capital's Spartak at home. In turn, the central match of the CSKA - Zenit tour was postponed from May 2 to May 4 due to the participation of the St. Petersburg team in the UEFA Cup.
Champions League. Semi-finals. Return matches . April 29 . Manchester United - Barcelona. April 30 . Chelsea - Liverpool.
This week it will become clear which of the European giants will still come to Moscow for the Champions League final on May 21. All four semi-finalists have generally equal chances: the first matches were tied - in Barcelona the score was never opened, and in Liverpool the teams exchanged goals - 1:1. Meanwhile, the Luzhniki Stadium, where the final will take place, has already begun the final stage of preparation. Work began on Sunday to lay natural grass on top of the artificial turf.
UEFA Cup. Semi-finals. Return matches. May 1st. Zenit - Bayern, Fiorentina - Rangers.
Zenit, having performed well on the road, significantly increased its chances of making it to the European Cup final. In Munich, the Advocaat team tied 1:1. Having missed a goal in the first half from the penalty spot, which Ricksen earned, after the break the Russian champion improved significantly and, thanks to an own goal from Lucio, managed to equalize the score. Our champion could have even gotten an away win, but he didn’t capitalize on a couple of good chances. However, in the return match Dick Advocaat will have to do without a number of leaders. Arshavin, Shirl and Ricksen miss the match due to too many yellow cards.
In the other semi-final, Rangers and Fiorentina failed to open the scoring - 0:0.
VOLLEYBALL. April 28, 29 and, if necessary, May 3. Russian Championship. Super League. Men . Playoffs. Series up to three wins (2--2--1). Third, fourth and, if necessary, fifth matches. Super final. "Dynamo" M - "Iskra". For 3rd place. " Lokomotiv " NS - "Dynamo-TTG". For 5th place. "Lokomotiv-Belogorye" - "Ural".
This season, a full-fledged playoff, starting with the quarterfinals, is not held due to the need to quickly complete the championship and give the national team players the opportunity to rest a little before starting the preparation process for the Beijing Olympics. In the first matches of the series for “gold”, “bronze” and fifth place, which allows them to compete in the European Challenge Cup, the hosts unanimously lost to their opponents, and the next day they took revenge. Thus, in all confrontations the score is equal - 1:1. Interestingly, for the last four seasons, a fifth match has invariably been required to determine the winner of the grand final.
TENNIS. April 28 -- May 3. WTA tournaments (women). Fes (Morocco), Prague (Czech Republic). ATP tournaments (men). Barcelona (Spain), Munich (Germany).
The clay season is in full swing and the matches of the week will be played on clay courts. For girls, both tournaments are of low status. At the fourth category BTA competitions, $145 thousand are up for grabs. Naturally, most of the elite representatives use these seven days to prepare for the Qatar Telecom German Open, which starts on May 5 in Berlin (Germany), with a total bonus amount of $1.34 million.
Here are a couple of starting rounds with the participation of Russians. Prague: Vera Zvonareva (1st seeded number) - qualified, Vera Dushevina - Martina Müller (Germany), Anna Lapushenkova - Shahar Pir (Israel, 2). Fes: Anabel Medina Garrigues (1) - Lourdes Dominguez Lino (both - Spain), Ekaterina Makarova (8) - Andrea Klepac (Slovenia), Alisa Kleybanova (6) - qualifier.
For men, 824 thousand euros are up for grabs in Barcelona, and 370 thousand euros in the capital of Bavaria. Marat Safin only at the very last moment received a special invitation from the organizers of the Munich tournament, although he was already mentally ready to start the competition with qualifications (due to his low rating), which he had not done for almost ten years. First round pairs with the participation of our big racket masters. Barcelona: Dmitry Tursunov (15) -- Kevin Anderson (South Africa), Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Andy Murray (Great Britain) are seeded first and second. Munich: Evgeny Korolev - Philipp Petschner (Germany), Igor Andreev (4) - Gal Monfils (France), Marat Safin - Carlos Berloc (Argentina). The first two seeded numbers are Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Athens Olympic champion in doubles, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.
HOCKEY. May 2-4. World Championship. Quebec, Halifax (Canada). First group stage .
There are 16 teams in the top division of the World Cup. Composition of the groups of the first stage: “A” - Belarus, Sweden, Switzerland, France; “B” - Canada, USA, Slovenia, Latvia; “C” - Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Norway; "D" - Russia, Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark. Schedule of matches of the week: May 2. Denmark - Czech Republic, Canada - Slovenia, Russia - Italy, USA - Latvia. May 3. Belarus - Sweden, Germany - Finland, Switzerland - France, Slovakia - Norway. May 4. Czech Republic - Russia, Latvia - Canada, Italy - Denmark, USA - Slovenia.
The three best teams from each quartet advance to the second stage, where, taking into account the matches between them, they form new sixes according to the “A+D, B+C” scheme. The next stage of the tournament is the playoffs, starting with the quarterfinals. The championship will end on May 18.
BASKETBALL. May 2-4. “Final Four” of the ULEB Euroleague. Madrid (Spain).
The Final Four will take place without the participation of the hosts. Real Madrid failed to overcome the barrier of the second group stage of the Top 16. In the semi-finals on May 2, CSKA - Tau (Vitoria, Spain), Montepaschi (Siena, Italy) - Maccabi (Tel Aviv, Israel) meet. You shouldn’t count on serious support from the residents of the Spanish capital “Tau”, because this team represents Baskonia, where among the majority of the population the thesis of separation from the country is still relevant. The capital's army team entered the quartet of the strongest teams in the Old World for the sixth time in a row, but only once won the main continental trophy - two years ago in Prague.
SNOOKER. April 28 -- May 4. World Championship. Sheffield (UK).
Snooker is the most popular form of billiards in Europe, with the highest television ratings. The maximum possible score in one game is 147 points, and the participant who achieves this result is rewarded with a special bonus in the amount of 147 thousand pounds sterling. Any other century break (100 or more points in a row in a game) is valued at 10 thousand pounds sterling. The quarter-finals will be held on April 29 and 30 (up to 13 games won), the semi-finals on May 1 and 3 (up to 17), and the finals on May 4 and 5 (up to 18).