Translated material
Chronicle
Yesterday, the first group stage of the final tournament of the eighth European Women's Handball Championship began with the Croatia - Serbia match. It takes place in the Macedonian cities of Skopje and Ohrid. The current world champion and silver medalist of the Beijing Olympics, the Russian team competes at Euro 2008 with a noticeably updated lineup. Of those who stood on the podium in the Celestial Empire in August, only five handball players went to Macedonia. The Russians met with Austria late last night. Sweden and Belarus also play in Group C in Ohrid.
The head coach of our team, Evgeny Trefilov, and his assistant, Vyacheslav Kirilenko, chose the following performers: goalkeepers - Inna Suslina (Zvezda, Zvenigorod), Anna Sedoykina (Dynamo, Volgograd); extreme players - Elena Dmitrieva, Alexandra Krannykh (both Zvezda), Marina Yartseva (Rostov-Don), Emilia Tourey (Copenhagen, Denmark); point guards - Irina Poltoratskaya (Zvezda), Tatyana Khmyrova, Olga Levina (Dynamo); welterweights - Elena Polenova, Oksana Koroleva (both Zvezda), Ekaterina Davydenko, Nadezhda Muravyova, Victoria Zhilinskaite (all Lada, Togliatti); linemen - Ekaterina Vetkova (“Zvezda”), Maya Kaverina-Petrova (“Rostov-Don”).
Other groups perform: “A” (Skopje) - France, Hungary, Denmark, Romania; “B” (Ohrid) - Norway, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine; “D” (Skopje) - Germany, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia. The three best teams from each quartet advance to the second stage, where they form two new sixes according to the scheme “A” + “B”, “C” + “D”. The results of matches played by rivals at the first stage are taken into account. Then the two strongest teams each participate in the semi-final matches. The decisive match and the fight for bronze will take place on December 14.
Boston wins for the ninth time in a row
Basketball. NBA. Regular season. “Charlotte” – “Minnesota” – 100:90, “Boston” – “Orlando” – 107:88, “Golden State” – “Miami” – 129:130 (OT).
Last season's NBA champion Boston won its ninth victory in a row. Paul Pierce scored 24 points for the Celts, and Ray Allen scored 21. Rajon Rondo had a dozen assists, tying his personal best for the season. Before the long break, the match between Boston and Orlando was an even battle, and the hosts achieved success due to a powerful game in the second half of the meeting. Winning coach Doc Rivers was named the best coach of November in the Eastern Conference. He was the laureate for the last two months of last season and has now become the third specialist to be awarded this title three times in a row. Previously, Larry Brown (Philadelphia, 2002-2003) and Flip Sanders (Detroit, 2005-2006) achieved this.
The league has identified the best newcomers of the past month. They were Derrick Rose from Chicago in the East and the top scorer of Memphis in the Western Conference, OJ Mayo. This graduate of West Virginia University was selected third overall by Minnesota in the 2008 draft, but as a result of the trade he went to the Grizzlies, whose managers clearly made the right decision. So far, Mayo's average performance in the championship is 21.9 points per game. In the 1996-97 season, Allen Iverson scored 23.4 points in his debut for Philadelphia, and since then no rookie has achieved a better indicator.
Armstrong will still go to the Tour de France
Seven-time winner of the world's most prestigious multi-day road cycling race, the Tour de France, American Lance Armstrong, who made a sensational return to the sport after a three-year break, announced that in 2009 he would participate in both the Italian Giro and the French Grand Loop.
After Armstrong decided to return, his plans changed several times. At first, it was primarily about trying to win an eighth Tour de France victory. Then information appeared that Iron Lance would be racing for the first time in his life on the roads of Italy, and in France his Astana team would bet on the Spaniard Alberto Contador. Now Armstrong is determined to participate in both races. Astana are currently training in the Canary Islands and Lance said he is in good physical shape. “I feel like I did ten years ago,” admitted the legendary cyclist.
Ovechkin is the best player of November
Hockey. NHL. Regular season. "Columbus" - "Vancouver" - 3:2, "Detroit" - "Anaheim" - 2:1, "Los Angeles" - "Toronto" - 1:3 - Frolov "L" ( 1+0), “Buffalo” – “Nashville” – 0:2, “Minnesota” – “Colorado” – 5:6.
Washington forward Alexander Ovechkin was named the best player of November. Last month, the 2008 world champion played 14 matches for the Capitals and scored 25 (11+14) points using the goal-plus-pass system, with the former Dynamo player having a streak of ten matches in which he added points to his scorer tally. Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin was named the league's second star at the end of last month - 23 (7+16) points in 12 matches. New York Islanders goaltender Joey McDonald received third-star status.
Badger and Kolodinsky teamed up in the "classic"
Twice the best pitcher of the “World Tour” in beach volleyball (2007, 2008), holder of the world record for the speed of the ball when serving (114 km/h), Igor Kolodinsky, nicknamed Bazooka, began playing for the team of the major league “A” of the Russian championship in the classical version games "GUVD-Dynamo" (Krasnodar). Kolodinsky’s sand court partner Dmitry Barsuk has been defending the colors of the “policemen” since the beginning of the season. Thus, the players of the best beach couple in Russia, the 2007 world vice-champions, are playing together again.
Kolodinsky began his volleyball career in Belgorod and was a reserve setter at Lokomotiv-Belogorye, becoming the national champion. For Badger, the Krasnodar club is home. Let us add that the 1999 World Cup winner and bronze medalist of the Athens Olympics, diagonal forward Stanislav Dineykin, joined this team last off-season.