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Chronicle
The President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Alexander Zhukov, during his stay at the 1st Youth Games in Singapore, met with the President of the US National Olympic Committee, Lawrence Probst, the official website of the ROC reports.
During the conversation, Zhukov expressed interest in studying the American experience in the development of so-called young winter sports (snowboarding, freestyle and short track). In addition, they talked about organizing, with the help of specialists from the United States, training for Russian coaches, internships for athletes, as well as holding joint competitions.
Mr. Probst indicated his country's interest in including new snowboarding disciplines in the Winter Olympics.
In the near future, the parties intend to exchange working visits. Alexander Zhukov expressed his readiness to receive the American delegation in February 2011 in Sochi, when the first test competitions for alpine skiers - a stage of the European Cup - were to take place there.
Safina had a successful start in Montreal
Former world number one Dinara Safina (pictured) reached the second round of the prestigious tennis tournament in Montreal, defeating the world number 39, German Andrea Petkovic - 6:3, 6:3. After the match, Safina admitted that she was gradually regaining her previous athletic shape. “If I wasn’t one hundred percent ready, the risk wouldn’t make any sense, because the season is almost over. If I didn't feel well, I wouldn't perform. Of course, it’s unpleasant to be 70th in the ranking. But the most important thing is that I am healthy and can play. It's nice to be back in Montreal, this is where I played some of the best matches of my career. I felt the support of the stands as soon as I stepped onto the court. I hope that I will be able to play as many matches as possible on the center court,” AP quotes Safina.
Let us remind you that the tournament in Montreal is the last major women's competition before the US Open. In parallel with the girls, a men's tennis tournament is taking place in Cincinnati, America.
The World Hockey Championship schedule has been revealed
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has announced the schedule of matches for the 75th World Championship, which will be held in 2011 in Slovakia. The first match of the Russian national team in Group A will take place on April 29 (against the German team). The Russians will hold their second meeting at the World Championship on May 1 against the Slovenian national team, and on May 3 they will compete with the host of the tournament, the Slovak team.
Group “A”: Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia.
Group “B”: Canada, Switzerland, Belarus, France.
Group “C”: Sweden, USA, Norway, Austria.
Group “D”: Finland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Denmark.
Matches of groups “A” and “D” will take place in Bratislava, groups “B” and “C” - in Kosice.
Mercedes part ways with Heidfeld
Mercedes management confirmed the termination of the contract with Nick Heidfeld. The parties separated by mutual consent. The German left the stable to become a test driver for Pirelli, which in 2011 will become a tire supplier for Formula 1. “Nick is a very experienced racer. We are confident that his knowledge and technical expertise will be very useful to Pirelli and will benefit the entire sport. He has been an important part of Mercedes since joining the team. We are glad to see that his career is progressing,” Autosport quotes team principal Ross Brawn as saying.
The coach of our swimmers announced his immediate plans
The head coach of the Russian swimming team, Andrei Vorontsov, said that the next starts with the participation of Russians are connected with the stages of the World Cup. “As the country that hosts one of the stages, we are obliged to enter athletes for all cup competitions. Therefore, at first we will send a small team of swimmers of four people, and starting from the Berlin stage there will be 15 of them. This will be one of the stages of selection for the European and World Championships in short course (in a 25-meter pool). The main selection will end at the tournament in Moscow. Then the Russian Cup and the Stockholm start of the World Cup will take place, where juniors may appear along with the main team,” Vorontsov said.
The coach also added that the winners of the recent European Championship will be included in the team without selection. At each distance of the Old World Short Course Championship, Russia can enter a maximum of four athletes. Most likely, young swimmers will compete at the European Championships. The main team is aimed at the world championship, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates
By the way, on Tuesday in Singapore at the Youth Olympic Games, Russian swimmers Andrei Ushakov, Alexey Atsapkin, Ilya Lemaev and Anton Lobanov won gold in the 4x100 m freestyle relay with a time of 3 minutes. 23.91 sec. The Chinese took silver (3:24.46), and the South Africans took bronze (3:24.66).
Biathletes began training in the snow
The Russian biathlon team continues to prepare for the upcoming season in Oberhof, Germany. The difference between this training camp and the two previous ones is training on artificial snow in a tunnel.
“The training camp in Oberhof was the first in which the entire team participated,” head coach of the Russian national team Vladimir Barnashov said in an interview with the All Sport agency. -- There are 12 men and 12 women in the team. Everyone is healthy, everyone is working in a good mood. In Oberhof we went out into the snow for the first time. Usually this happens much later, but it would be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself with the appearance of the so-called pipe in Oberhof, not to work on snow, even artificial. In addition to ski training, we do general physical training, and don’t forget about shooting - without it there is no biathlon. In general, we don’t sit in the tunnel from morning to evening. We’re putting in a lot of workload at the training camp in Oberhof, as planned, very serious, but no one is complaining.”