Translated material
Russians are inferior to world leaders
In the men's tournament, none of the Russians reached the quarterfinals; in the girls' quartet of the strongest players in the tournament, two of our compatriots made it. Mauresmo's next opponent will be Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Japanese Ai Sugiyama - 6:0, 7:6 (7:4). Last night, Moscow time, Anastasia Myskina played with Maria Sharapova, and former Muscovite Tatyana Golovin, representing France, met with the main sensation of the tournament, Chinese Zheng Jie.
Hatton takes it to another level
British boxer Ricky Hatton, who won the IBF world welterweight champion belt (up to 63.5 kg) in June last year after defeating Russian Konstantin Tszyu, has decided to renounce his title. Let us remember that in November Hatton defended it, beating Colombian Carlos Maussa, and at the same time winning the title of world champion according to another authoritative professional boxing organization - the WBA. Then Ricky began to think about moving up to the next weight. He had a choice: fight IBF mandatory challenger Ben Rabah at junior welterweight or try to become the WBA world champion in the heavier division. The Briton decided to go with the second option: on May 13 in Boston he will fight with American Louis Collazzo for the WBA title.
“With all due respect to the Tunisian-born Australian, I cannot consider Ben Rabah a serious boxer,” Hatton said. - And in a different weight, after the fight with Collazzo, I will have the opportunity in the future to fight such popular personalities as Diego Corrales or Arturo Gatti. Competing with them will strengthen my reputation and be more profitable commercially.” In the professional ring since 1997, Ricky has had 40 fights and won all of them, including 30 times ahead of schedule. Vladimir ILYIN
Chinese volleyball players will come to Yekaterinburg
The arenas where the Russian men's volleyball team will host their opponents at the preliminary stage of the 2006 World League have been officially announced. For our team, these matches are not of fundamental importance, since, as the host country, Russia has already been admitted to the final tournament, which will be held on August 23-27 at the Small Sports Arena of the Luzhniki. The wards of Serbian coach Zoran Gajic will hold home meetings in the group on July 15-16 with France in the capital's Dynamo Sports Palace, on August 5-6 against China in Yekaterinburg and, finally, on August 19-20 in Luzhniki Russia hosts the current European champion Italy. Ilya TRISVIATSKY
Columbus repeated its record
Hockey. NHL. Regular season. "Philadelphia" -- "Toronto" -- 2:3 -- Antropov "T" (0+2) , "Montreal" -- "New York Islanders" -- 2:0 -- A. Markov "M" ( 0+1) , "Edmonton" - "Minnesota" - 2:3 - Samsonov "E" (1+1), Zyuzin "M" (0+1) , "Phoenix" - "Nashville" - 5:3 -- Kvasha "F" (1+1), D. Markov "N" (0+1) , "Columbus" -- "San Jose" -- 4:1 - - Fedorov "K" (0 +1) , “Ottawa” – “New Jersey” – 2:3 (B), “Colorado” – “Anaheim” – 4:3.
Having won against San Jose, Columbus repeated its own achievement in the number of victories in the regular season. The Blue Jackets now have 29, and the club record will soon fall. Columbus's little joy prevented San Jose from getting into the top eight of the Western Conference. Konstantin IVANOV
Sacramento gives Utah a chance
Basketball. NBA. Regular season. “Charlotte” – “Atlanta” – 125:117, “Detroit” – “Dallas” – 97:90, “Milwaukee” – “Phoenix” – 132:110, “Memphis” – “Seattle” -- 97:98, "Chicago" -- "Orlando" -- 93:97, "Sacramento" -- "Washington" -- 84:97, "Clippers" -- "San Antonio" -- 87:98.
Having lost to Washington on their site, Sacramento gave Utah the opportunity to compete for a place in the playoffs. The team of Sergei Monya, who spent a few seconds on the court in the last match and failed to do anything, is now in eighth place in the Western Conference and has 35 wins and 36 losses. Andrei Kirilenko's Utah is ninth (33-37). Konstantin IVANOV
Liverpool agree to sell
Liverpool management has confirmed information that the club may be sold in the near future. “The Liverpool FC board can confirm ongoing discussions with a number of companies regarding potential investment in the club. While the structure of any such investment is unclear, it could include an offer to purchase a majority stake," the club said in a statement.
One of the contenders for the purchase of Liverpool is the Spaniard Juan Villalonga. The former president of Spain's largest cellular company, Telefonica, is now building middle-class homes in Eastern Europe and Latin America, and also owns London-based internet giant Telnic. The 52-year-old businessman is going to buy back part of the club's shares for 42 million pounds, and Villalonga plans to quadruple the income of the most titled English team. Andrey VDOVIN
Mikhailov was reappointed as SKA coach
The board of directors of the SKA hockey club (St. Petersburg) decided to appoint Boris Mikhailov as the new head coach of the team. This specialist already worked for SKA in the seasons 1981/82 - 1983/84, 1992/93 - 1996/97, 2002/03 - 2004/05. In 1994, Mikhailov led SKA to the semifinals of the MHL championship. In addition, the club's board of directors recognized the team's performance in the ending season as unsatisfactory - SKA dropped out of the playoffs already in the 1/8 finals, losing to Avangard Omsk. Konstantin IVANOV