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In the men's Champions League, the capital's Dynamo are free from playing; the current winner of the gold medals of the national championship, Belgorod Lokomotiv-Belogorye, will meet in Sofia with the Bulgarian Levski on Wednesday. In the first round, Gennady Shipulin's team did not have any problems in the match with this opponent - they won in three sets. In a similar women's tournament, Ekaterinburg's Uralochka travels to Istanbul, where it plays the local Ekzachibashi on Wednesday. Even if successful, the team of Nikolai Karpol and Valentina Ogienko will still be in limbo. After all, the three strongest teams from groups “A” and “B”, as well as the club that took fourth place in one of these six with the best additional indicators, advance to the next round of competition. “Uralochka” is still fifth in sextet “A” with one win, “Ekzachibashi” has three wins, and the Polish “Kalisz”, which is fourth in group “B”, has three victories. It is highly desirable for this team to lose to the Turkish Vakifbank on Thursday.
In Group “D” of the Cup of Top Teams, where Dynamo-TTG Kazan plays, at the end of the final round of the main stage, it may be necessary to calculate the ratio of game points. The two best clubs will advance to the quarterfinals, and the situation in this quartet is extremely confusing. The Kazan team will play Panathinaikos in Athens on Wednesday and, if they win, they will be equal on points with the Greeks. The Italian Piacenza is still on par with the Russians (eight points each) and will meet Erdemirspor (Türkiye) away. In the women's Cup of Top Teams tournament, the capital's Dynamo team on Tuesday has a simple task: they must not lose at home with a devastating score to the Serbian "Postar".
We can only regret that the first ever “All-Star Game” in the format “Russians - foreign legionnaires” will be held without the long-time leader of the country’s national team, Vadim Khamuttskikh. For unknown reasons, he was not even included in the fan voting list.
HOCKEY. Super League. December 21st. 35th round. December 23 . 36th round .
The national championship resumes after the third stage of the Eurotour of the Moscow ROSNO Cup. The undisputed leader of the Super League, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, led by Canadian Dave King, and the current champion Dynamo, united in one pair according to the calendar, will play away matches with the debutants of high society. On Wednesday, Magnitogorsk will take to the ice at the HC MVD in Tver, and the blue and white will test Vityaz in Podolsk, which occupies the penultimate place. In Moscow, Friday's match between Spartak and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv is of some interest. For a native Dynamo player, the coach of the “railway men”, Vladimir Yurzinov Sr., matches against the “red-whites” are always important.
The second round of the Super League will end at the end of the coming week, after which the schedule for the final third of the regular season will become known. Teams placed in the top half of the standings will have a slight advantage and will play nine matches at home and eight away at this stage.
BASKETBALL. December 20, 23. Super League. Man. December 20. ULEB Cup. 7th round. FIBA European Cup. Second stage. 2nd round. December 21-22. Euroleague ULEB. 8th round.
CSKA begins the second round of the first group stage of the ULEB Euroleague with an away match against the Italian Montepaschi, which it lost to in Moscow at the start of the tournament by a difference of five points. The army team is now in second place in octet “C” with five wins, one win more than the Greek “Panathinaikos”. In the ULEB Cup, both Russian clubs - the capital's Dynamo and Kazan's UNICS - are so far undefeated. Most likely, next Tuesday they will be able to continue their winning streak. The Blue and White host the Italian Virtus, which they defeated in Rome with a 25-point advantage. Basketball players from the capital of Tatarstan play at home with the Belgian club Charleroi.
In the main competition under the auspices of the continental branch of the International Basketball Federation on December 20, Dynamo St. Petersburg plays in the Czech Republic Nymburk, Khimki near Moscow is visiting Mariupol Azovmash in Ukraine, Lokomotiv from Rostov-on-Don is meeting on the road with Shlensk (Poland). And only Dynamo near Moscow in the second round of the second stage of the European Cup hosts their opponents at home - in Lyubertsy the “blue and white” will fight with the Greek “Maroussi”. The women's Euroleague, women's European Cup and men's Challenge Cup are on a pre-New Year break. In the men's Super League, the centerpiece will be Friday's match in Kazan between UNICS and Khimki.
MOUNTAIN SKIING. December 21-22. World Cup stage. Men. Kranjska Gora (Slovenia). Women. Spynderuv Mlyn (Czech Republic).
In Europe there will be competitions in technical disciplines - slalom and giant slalom.
CHESS. December 19--25. Superfinal of the 58th Russian Championship. Moscow.
12 grandmasters are taking part in the tournament: Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Alexey Dreev, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Volkov, Sergey Rublevsky, Dmitry Yakovenko, Evgeny Nayer and Alexander Motylev. Of these, the first three received personal invitations, Grischuk and Dreev received passes to the tournament based on the results of the previous super final, the rest made it from the major league. The competition will be held at the Central House of Chess Player named after Mikhail Botvinnik in a single round-robin system and will end next week.