Enin opened the season

Chronicle of sporting events

The first match of the season was played at a tournament in Paris with a prize fund of 600 thousand dollars by one of the best tennis players in the world, Justine Henin from Belgium. In the second round she broke the resistance of Frenchwoman Emilie Loi - 3:6, 6:2, 6:2. Three Russians - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina and Anna Chakvetadze - reached the quarterfinals of these competitions. In the second round, Kuznetsova beat Katarina Srebotnik from Slovakia - 6:7 (4), 6:4, 7:6 (4), and Safina defeated the French Camille Pin - 2:6, 6:2, 7:6 (5). The Russian derby with the participation of Anna Chakvetadze and Olga Puchkova ended in victory for the former - 6:2, 6:0. In the second round, Anna beat Spaniard Anabel Medina-Garrigues - 4:6, 6:4, 6:4. Let us remember that Chakvetadze started the season quite well, winning the final in Hobart, Australia.

At the tennis tournament in Pattaya, the prize fund of which is $170 thousand, the Russians are not doing so well. After the first round, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova sheathed their rackets. The first lost to Italian Maria Santangelo - 2:6, 4:6, and the second lost to Sibylle Bummer from Austria - 2:6, 5:7.

The captain of the Russian men's team, Shamil Tarpishchev, made it clear that Dmitry Tursunov, who was announced for the Davis Cup game against the Chilean national team, will not take the court. The reason for this is an injury to his left hand, which still worries the tennis player. “There is no reason to play such an important match without being in shape,” said Shamil Tarpishchev.

UMMC basketball players dropped out of the Euroleague

The basketball players of the Yekaterinburg UMMC completed their performance in the women's Euroleague. In the third, decisive match of the 1/8 finals, the Russians lost to the visiting team from Hungary “Evroleasing” - 70:80. The Hungarians' next opponent will be the Russian champion basketball players from CSKA Samara.

On Wednesday, in the return match of the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup, Khimki near Moscow beat Dynamo from the capital - 81:65. However, despite the big score, the team was unable to make it to the Final Four of the Russian Cup, as Dynamo won by 17 points in the first match. The Final Four will feature CSKA, Dynamo, UNICS Kazan and Dynamo near Moscow. In the semifinals, the army team will compete with the team of Dusan Ivkovic, and UNICS will compete with a club from the Moscow region. The decisive games will take place on April 22-23. Olesya KOMAROVA

Swimmers updated six country records

At the Russian swimming championship that ended in the capital's Olympic swimming pool, six national records were updated. Their authors were: Nikolay Skvortsov in the 100 m butterfly, Yana Martynova - 200 m butterfly, Anastasia Zueva - 50 m backstroke, Natalya Sutyagina - 100 m butterfly. On the first and last day of the tournament, Anastasia Ivanenko set two national records at once - at distances of 800 and 1500 m freestyle.

Based on the results of the Russian championship, a team was formed that will compete at the World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia. It included 26 athletes - 18 men and eight women. Among them, the name of the silver medalist of the Olympic Games in Athens Stanislava Komarova, who attended the competition as a spectator, is missing.

Komarova previously announced that she would miss the current season because she plans to build her preparations with an eye to the Olympics in Beijing. Russian national team coach Alexander Klokov told reporters on this occasion that he is aware of Komarova’s plans and does not intend to rush the athlete, who must make a decision regarding her future on her own. Olga ERMOLINA

Landis' case will be decided in June

The fate of American cyclist Floyd Landis, who was caught doping with synthetic testosterone during last year's Tour de France, will be decided by the French Federal Anti-Doping Agency at the end of June. So far, not a single authority has rendered its verdict in this case, including the American Anti-Doping Agency and the International Cycling Union. Olesya KOMAROVA

Coulthard fined

Red Bull driver David Coulthard has been fined for a traffic incident in Monaco. According to the court decision, a 35-year-old Scot will pay 500 euros for the fact that, while moving along the streets of the principality at a speed of 100-150 km per hour, he got into an accident, as a result of which a passenger was injured. It is noteworthy that the racer paid her monetary compensation, after which she withdrew her application. However, eight years after the incident, a Monaco court found Coulthard guilty of an accident and ordered him to pay a fine. Olesya KOMAROVA

A figure skating academy will be built in Moscow

The capital's figure skating academy will appear in the Bibirevo area, on Konenkova Street. The initiator of its construction was Moskomsport. According to the chairman of this organization, Mikhail Stepanyants, all the necessary documentation for construction, including the investment plan, has already been signed. Construction is expected to take two to three years. Let us remember that a similar academy for figure skaters was opened in St. Petersburg last year. Olga ERMOLINA

Maskaev and Klitschko persuade Peter not to fight

In New York, at the office of a law firm, trilateral negotiations began between representatives of the WBC world heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev, the honorary champion of this organization Vitali Klitschko, who announced his intention to return to the ring, and mandatory challenger to the title Samuel Peter from Nigeria . The parties are trying to settle the order of championship fights for the WBC title. Peter's promoter Dino Duva insists that his protégé should meet the belt holder Maskaev. Peter’s priority seems to have been confirmed by the World Boxing Council. But the situation is not so simple: the WBC at one time promised Vitali Klitschko that if he decided to return to professional boxing, he would immediately receive the right to a championship fight.

According to some reports, representatives of Maskaev and Klitschko intend to offer Peter a compensation of $3 million for the fact that he will not insist on an immediate meeting with the WBC champion, but will wait until September of this year and is guaranteed to meet in a fight for the title with the winner of the Maskaev fight --Klitschko. Andrey VDOVIN

Olga ERMOLINA