| Real Madrid has practically agreed with Arsenal on the purchase of French midfielder Patrick Vieira. The Royal Club is ready to pay the Gunners £23.1 million. All details of the personal contract have already been agreed upon with Vieira himself, but the footballer’s salary is kept secret.
Arsenal has not yet given final consent to the transfer, and representatives of the English champion have not commented on this transfer in any way. However, information has leaked that the Gunners will only release their leading player to Real if they manage to buy Portugal midfielder Maniche from Porto. Maniche's transfer fee is 25 million euros. But the problem is that Porto announced the end of the summer sale of the squad that won the Champions League.
Vieira himself seems confident in his move to Madrid. In any case, British journalists learned that a Frenchman of Senegalese origin had put his house in London up for sale. Andrey VDOVIN
Federer rushes to Europe
Three more Russian tennis players reached the second round of the first category BTA tournament with a prize fund of $1.3 million in Montreal. Elena Bovina defeated the Spanish Virginia Ruano-Pascual - 6:1, 6:3, Vera Zvonareva defeated the Japanese Akiko Morigami with exactly the same score, Elena Likhovtseva defeated Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) - 0:6, 6 :3, 6:2. Alina Zhidkova has already had a second round match, in which she provided serious resistance to American Jennifer Capriati - 6:7 (3:7), 5:7.
At the men's Masters Series competition with a total bonus of $2.45 million in Cincinnati (USA), in the starting round match Mikhail Youzhny beat Chilean Nicholas Massa - 6:3, 3:6, 6:3. The first racket of the world, Swiss Roger Federer, who won titles in four tournaments in a row, was defeated by Slovakian Dominik Hrbata - 6:1, 6:7 (5:7), 4:6. The Swiss returns to Europe, where he begins the last stage of preparation for the Olympics. Ilya TRISVIATSKY
Our handball players defeated Egypt
In the second round of the international tournament of men's handball teams in Egypt, the Olympic champion of Sydney 2000, the Russian team defeated the hosts of the competition - 34:27 (17:9). The French, who defeated head coach Vladimir Maximov's team in the opening match, topped the standings after another victory over Japan. The Russians share second or third place with Egypt, which won the handball players from the Land of the Rising Sun on the first day of the competition - 30:27. Vladimir ILYIN
Patarkatsishvili will pay for Olympic gold
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili gave farewell words to the Georgian Olympians. 33 athletes from Georgia will perform in Athens. Press Secretary of the State Department of Sports Alexander Dzhibladze told Vremya Novostei that special hopes are placed on world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Manuchar Kvirkvelia, world champion in freestyle wrestling Eldar Kurtanidze and European champion in judo Zurab Zviadauri. Since independence, Georgia has not won Olympic gold, receiving six bronze medals at the Games in 1996 and 2000. “We expect to win the first Olympic gold in Athens,” said Alexander Dzhibladze. Businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, head of the Union of Large Taxpayers and president of the Olympic Fund, promised 400 thousand lari (approximately 210 thousand dollars) to the winner of the Olympics. Badri Patarkatsishvili valued “silver” at 200 thousand lari, “bronze” at one hundred. Moreover, this remuneration is not taxed, unlike state bonuses. The authorities will pay the champion 50 thousand dollars, the silver medalist - 30, the bronze medalist - 20. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi
Bazhenov made his debut in Spartak
In the rescheduled match of the 18th round, the capital's Spartak in Krasnodar won against the local Kuban - 2:1. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored for the Muscovites, opening the scoring in the 9th minute. In the 67th minute, Ricardo scored the return goal. However, the guests managed to snatch victory in stoppage time. Trobok's blow was decisive.
In this match, 19-year-old forward Nikita Bazhenov, who moved to Spartak from Saturn, took to the field for the first time. And the debut of the young forward can be considered successful. It was thanks to his actions that the score was opened: after Bazhenov’s individual pass, Pavlyuchenko could only substitute his foot.
After this draw, Spartak scored 24 points and is in 6th place in the standings, ten points behind the leading group. Nevio Scala's team will play their next match on Saturday against Lokomotiv, which has a chance to top the standings. Andrey VDOVIN
Dream Team disgraced itself in Cologne
The US men's basketball team, made up of NBA players, suffered a disgraceful fiasco in a control match with Italy, which took place in front of 14,800 spectators at the Cologne Arena - 78:95. This is the biggest defeat for the Stars and Stripes since the national team began to be formed from NBA basketball players 12 years ago. The nightmare that began for American pros at the 2002 home world championship in Indianapolis, where the “dream team” of the next convocation took only sixth place, continues. Although, on the eve of the Olympics, the United States took the recruitment of the national team much more seriously.
The Italians confidently controlled the match throughout the entire 40 minutes of the game, already gaining a nine-point advantage in the first quarter. USA national team coach Larry Brown released all the dozen announced basketball players onto the court, but none of them were able to shine. Italy's top scorers were Giacomo Galanda (28 points) and Gianluca Basile (25). The Americans showed a disgusting percentage of free throws - 16 accurate shots out of 29. Vladimir ILYIN
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