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Chronicle
The Greek men's basketball team won the traditional, already 23rd international Acropolis Cup tournament with the participation of four teams, held in Athens. In the final third round, thanks to a good game in the fourth period (25:14), the Hellenes barely defeated the Lithuanian squad - 75:73. In the end, the Greeks have a 100% result - three wins, two to the Serbs, who are coached by the former coach of the capital CSKA and Dynamo Dusan Ivkovic, one win to the Lithuanians. As we have already reported, the Russians are in last place, having suffered three defeats.
The Latvian national team, the Russians' opponent in the first group stage of the European Championship starting on September 7 in Poland, is these days participating in the tournament for the Efes Pilsen Cup. Here in the first round, the hosts of the competition, the Turks, playing in Group A, lost to Croatia - 77:82, in Group B, Latvia defeated Great Britain with great difficulty - 86:84. The most productive player among the Baltics was Kaspars Kambala, who last season defended the colors of Krasnoyarsk Yenisei. The other two participants of the Efes Pilsen Cup, Germany and Macedonia, were free from games that day.
Russians perform successfully in New Haven
At the BTA Premier category tournament with a prize fund of 600 thousand dollars in New Haven (USA), three Russian tennis players reached the quarterfinals. In the second round, Anna Chakvetadze defeated the representative of Austria, Sybil Bammer - 4:6, 6:4, 7:5, the first-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova turned out to be stronger than the Belgian qualifier Yanina Wickmayer - 6:4, 5:7, 7:6 (7:2), Elena Vesnina (pictured) beat Samantha Stosur from Australia - 3:6, 6:3, 6:4. Failure befell Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who failed to beat the second racket of the competition, Danish Caroline Wozniacki - 1:6, 4:6. The composition of the quarterfinal pairs was as follows: Virginia Razzano (France) - Wozniacki, Amelie Mauresmo (France) - Kuznetsova, Chakvetadze - Vesnina, Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) - Flavia Pennetta (Italy). These fights took place last night Moscow time.
Men's competitions with a total bonus amount of $750 thousand are held in New Haven in parallel. Unlike women, the main draw format here is not 32, but 48 participants. Two Russians made it into the top eight players of the tournament. Nikolay Davydenko left the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro out of action in the third round - 7:5, 6:3, Igor Andreev at the same stage upset the Portuguese Frederico Gil - 6:4, 6:4. Last night Davydenko fought with American Sam Querrey to get into the semifinals, Andreev sorted things out with Argentine Leonardo Mayer.
Meanwhile, qualifying for the US Open has begun in New York, the main part of which starts on August 31. In the first round of selection, Alexander Kudryavtsev was defeated by the Brazilian Ricardo Mello - 3:6, 4:6. Here are the results of the initial stage of women's qualification with the participation of Russians: Evgeniya Rodina - Kristina Kuchova (Slovakia) - 6:4, 6:2, Karolina Sprem (Croatia) - Nina Bratchikova - 2:6, 6:1, 6: 3, Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) -- Elena Bovina -- 6:2, 6:3, Ksenia Lykina -- Zyuzana Ondrashkova (Czech Republic) -- 4:6, 7:5, 6:4, Anna Lapuschenkova -- Julie Ditty (USA) -- 7:6 (7:3), 6:3, Elena Chalova -- Carmen Klashka (Germany) -- 3:6, 6:1, 6:3, Sofia Arviddson (Sweden) -- Regina Kulikova -- 1:6, 6:, 6:2.
Cubans have served their suspension
In the new season, the European club volleyball champion Italian Trento will be able to count on the help of former Cuban national team player Portuondo Osmani Juantorena, who has served a long period of disqualification. Trento is the opponent of the capital's Dynamo in the group stage of the Champions League and the opponent of Zenit Kazan at the November Club World Championship in Qatar.
Juantorena, who played in the Russian Super League for the team from Ufa, was caught smoking marijuana on the eve of the 2006 World Cup. A doping test taken at one of the continental tournaments with the participation of the Cuban team turned out to be positive.
Almost simultaneously with Juantorena, the period of disqualification ended for two other Cuban volleyball players - Yasser Portuondo and Romero Poey, who also managed to play in the Russian championship. They escaped from their national team while it was at a training camp in Varna, Bulgaria, before the start of the 2007 World League. The fugitives eventually ended up in Italy, but according to the rules of the International Volleyball Federation, transfer certificates are issued in national federations, so for two years Portuondo and Poey were out of the game. Now, after the expiration of the period established by the regulations, they are free from obligations to their country and will play in the Italian championship for the capital Roma.
Chernomorets invites Blokhin
The new coach of the Ukrainian football club Chernomorets (Odessa) in the near future should be the former coach of FC Moscow, the best scorer of the USSR championships, Oleg Blokhin. ITAR-TASS reports this with reference to Ukrainian media.
There is information that a press conference will be held on September 1, during which the appointment of Blokhin to the post of head coach of the Odessa club will be announced. Blokhin's assistants will be Andrey Bal and Yuri Romensky. Chernomorets had an extremely unsuccessful start in the 2009/10 Ukrainian Championship, suffering four defeats in a row, which led to the resignation of the club's head coach Viktor Grishko. His duties are currently performed by Igor Nakonechny. The team has serious problems with financing, due to which in the spring the Odessa club had to part with a number of leaders. Ukrainian media claim that the owner of the club, Leonid Klimov, is currently negotiating with representatives of a large Russian company about the sale of FC Chernomorets. Oleg Blokhin, after being fired from FC Moscow last season, has been unemployed for more than six months.