Translated material
Week calendar
Premier League. 17th round. August 26. “Torpedo” - “Saturn”, “Lokomotiv” - “Luch-Energia”. August 27. "Moscow" - "Rostov", "Spartak" (M) - "Spartak" (Nch), "Dynamo" - "Tom", "Shinnik" - CSKA.
A crucial moment has arrived for the capital's clubs Spartak and CSKA. The “red-whites” and the army team have one step left to take to secure their place in the group stage of the Champions League, which Lokomotiv failed to do last year. Both matches involving Russian teams will take place on Wednesday. “Spartak” hosts the Czech “Slovan” (Liberec) after a goalless away draw, CSKA seems to have nothing to worry about. Two weeks ago in Moscow, the Russian champion defeated the Slovak Ruzomberok with a score of 3:0. Rubin has a similar situation in the UEFA Cup. In Kazan, Belarusian BATE also suffered a defeat with a difference of three goals.
In the Russian Championship, two games of the 17th round were moved beyond the weekend. The matches "Rubin" - "Krylya Sovetov" and "Zenit" - "Amkar" will take place early next week. At the Women's World Championship, our players complete the preliminary round on Wednesday with a confrontation with Australia. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
TENNIS. August 21-27. WTA (women) and ATP (men) tournaments. New Haven (USA).
This week, men's and women's tournaments will be held simultaneously on the courts of New Haven, the last before the US Open starts on August 28. The girls will compete for $600,000 in prize money. Amelie Mauresmo is seeded number one. The Frenchwoman, along with Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium), Nadezhda Petrova and Elena Dementieva, was exempted from participation in the 1/16 final matches. Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet with one of the lucky “qualifiers” at the previous stage, Maria Kirilenko will play with the Chinese Na Li, and in the Russian derby Anastasia Myskina and Dinara Safina will sort things out. The lot chose Italian Francesca Schiavvone as Elena Likhovtseva’s opponent. Vera Dushevina and Anastasia Rodionova were unable to overcome the barrier of the qualifying matches; Vera Zvonareva will perform only in doubles - in company with the Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy. Last year's title was won by American Lindsay Davenport, who defeated Mauresmo in the final.
For men, the total amount of bonuses is slightly higher - $675 thousand. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal chose to rest; in their absence, the American James Blake is considered the first racket of the competition. Nikolai Davydenko is “seeded” number two, and in the 1/16 finals he will compete with the winner of the French match between Arnaud Clément and Florent Serra. All the other leading Russian big racket masters decided to focus entirely on training before the US Open. The tournament dates back to the 1990 season, and each time (no competition was held in 1999-2004) a new winner was determined. Nine years ago, our Yevgeny Kafelnikov received the main prize. Blake, the reigning champion of New Haven, has a chance to break the established tradition on the 20th of August.
VOLLEYBALL. August 23-27. World League (men). The final stage . Moscow. August 25-27. Grand Prix (women). Second game week. Seoul (South Korea), Macau, Taipei (Taiwan).
The top four teams in this tournament will have to play five matches over five days. The formula for the final stage at the Small Sports Arena of Luzhniki is very intricate. Six teams are divided into two trios, but will play not only among themselves, but also with one more representative from another trio. The top two teams advance to the semi-finals.
The Russian national team is tasked with winning the home tournament or at least playing in the match for gold. It is likely that in the playoffs the first opponents of Zoran Gajic's team will be the Brazilians, who have not lost a single major competition in recent years. Apparently, you will have to rack your brains not only about how to deal with your opponents in the first stage, but also try to avoid meeting the South Americans in the semifinals. Please note that in the event of a tie in points between two or more participants in the same group, the criterion for the distribution of places is not the ratio of games, as in European tournaments, but the ratio of goals.
Our country has hosted the World League final only once - in 1997 at the Olimpiysky sports complex in the capital. Then the team of Vyacheslav Zaitsev and Vyacheslav Platonov finished third. In the 2002 season, Russia won the title for the first and only time - this was done under the leadership of Belgorod resident Gennady Shipulin. The country's women's team is playing against South Korea, Poland and Japan in the second game week of the Grand Prix.
BASKETBALL. August 21-27. World Championship. Men. Japan.
The matches of the third round of the preliminary stage are deliberately spread over two days - Monday and Tuesday, so that all teams get a day of rest. On Wednesday, the matches of Brazil - Greece and the USA - Italy are of increased interest; on the final day of the group stage, the 2002 world champion and gold winner Athens - Serbia and Montenegro will meet at the site in Sendai against Argentina. Friday is reserved for the playoff participants to move to the city of Saitama, and the round of 16 matches will take place on Saturday.
"FORMULA-1". August 27. Turkish Grand Prix . Istanbul.
The Turkish stage of the Formula 1 world championship was held for the first time last year. The main place on the podium was taken by Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who started from pole position. The fastest lap was demonstrated by Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.
The Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Renault) is now in the lead in the drivers' championship with 100 points, and theoretically in Turkey, the German Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), who is ten points behind, can catch up with him. To do this, the “red baron” needs to finish first, provided that Alonso does not make it into the top eight.
CYCLE HIGHWAY. August 21-23. Multi-day race of the “Pro Tour” series on the roads of Holland and Belgium - “Eneko Tour”. Stages 5-7 .
BEACH VOLLEYBALL. August 24-27. European Championship. Holland.
ROWING. August 21-27. World Championship. Eton (UK).
ATHLETICS, August 25. "Golden League". 5th stage. Van Dam Memorial. Brussels (Belgium).