Smertin brought victory to Fulham

Chronicle of sporting events

Football. English Championship. 2nd round. Birmingham - Sunderland - 2:2, Fulham - Bolton - 2:1, Manchester City - Derby County - 1:0, Portsmouth - " Manchester United - 1:1, Reading - Chelsea - 1:2, Wigan - Middlesbrough - 1:0, Tottenham - Everton - 1:3 . Leading: Everton, Manchester City, Chelsea - 6 points each.

Russian midfielder of London Fulham Alexey Smertin scored the winning goal for his team in the second round match of the English Championship against Bolton. In the first half, with the score 1:1, Smertin made an accurate shot from 30 meters. This goal allowed Fulham to win their first victory in the championship.

Other former players of the Russian Lokomotiv also distinguished themselves in this round. Scotsman O'Connor, having moved to Birmingham and having already made his mark in the scandalous chronicles, opened the scoring with his goals in England. After his strike in the 82nd minute, Birmingham took the lead in the match against Sunderland, but could not maintain the advantage. Another former railroad worker, Cameroonian Bikay, managed to score against Chelsea, which, however, did not help his Reading team. The country's vice-champions managed to turn the tide of an unsuccessful match, and Blues leaders Lampard and Drogba ensured the desired result.

But Manchester United continues to stall. Once again, Sir Alex Ferguson's team failed to win and are now four points behind Chelsea.

French Championship. 3rd round. "Valenciennes" - "Marseille" - 2:1, "Bordeaux" - "Le Mans" - 1:2, "Lille" - "Sochaux" - 1:1, "Monaco" - "Metz" " -- 2:0, "Paris Saint-Germain" -- "Lorien" -- 1:3, "Strasbourg" -- "Auxerre" -- 3:0, "Rennes" -- "Saint-Etienne" -- 1:0. Leading: Le Mans - 9 points, Lorient - 7.

The French championship continues to present surprises. In the third round, those who were expected to fight for gold with Lyon stumbled. Marseille, leading most of the match, unexpectedly lost to Valenciennes, and Bordeaux lost at home to Le Mans, which topped the standings. But Paris Saint-Germain disappointed the most. The capital team cannot win three rounds in a row - two draws were followed by a defeat, which threw PSG to the bottom of the standings.

Domnina and Shabalin presented new programs

The Russian dance duo, silver medalists of the 2007 European Championship Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have prepared new programs for their performances this season. Together with coach Alexei Gorshkov and choreographer Sergei Petukhov, the skaters chose Cossack motifs for their original dance and made a program to the music “Unharness the horses, boys,” and for the free dance the classical music of Khachaturian’s “Masquerade.”

According to the athletes' coach Alexei Gorshkov, the programs turned out to be amazing and very diverse. Original costumes were made especially for them. The skaters themselves do not hide the fact that they really like the new programs, because they allow them to reveal their artistic capabilities and more.

Let us remind you that last season the duet Domnina-Shabalin was remembered by the audience for its free dance, choreographed to the music of Borodin “Polovtsian Dances”. Olga ERMOLINA

The Georgian politician returned to the platform

Champion of the Athens Olympics, 31-year-old weightlifter Georgiy Asanidze, decided to return to professional sports after a three-year break. On August 18, he will take part in the Georgian Championship in his hometown of Sachkhere. And in a month, the best Georgian weightlifters will head to the world championship in Thailand. Georgiy Asanidze won the Olympics in the weight category up to 85 kg, ahead of Belarusian Andrei Rybakov and three-time Olympic champion Greek Pirros Dimas. Now the Georgian athlete hopes to compete at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The break in his sports career was caused by his election to the Georgian parliament from the ruling United National Movement. Now he again preferred the platform to legislative activity. Asanidze is a member of two parliamentary committees: on external relations and on education, culture, science and sports. He will retain his parliamentary powers for now. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi

Yagudin has not yet received amateur status

Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin will return to amateur ice in the 2008/09 season. The reason for this is not only the consequences of a recent operation to replace the joint of his right leg, but also the absence of a document from the International Skating Union, according to which Yagudin will return his amateur status plus a valid contract with Channel One to participate in the Stars on Ice project.

In other words, in the upcoming season Yagudin will appear before the audience as a participant in his favorite television project, and in the next season he plans to take part in championships and international amateur tournaments. Yagudin confirmed that he will train together with Nikolai Morozov and the national figure skating team consultant Tatyana Tarasova. Olga ERMOLINA

Blatt has 14 candidates left

The head coach of the Russian men's basketball team, David Blatt, has reduced the list of candidates for participation in the European Championship, which starts on September 3 in Spain, by three people. Dmitry Flis, Dmitry Khvostov and Sergey Bykov are not taking part in the next training camp in Moscow. Thus, Blatt now has 14 basketball players at his disposal, vying for a dozen places in Russia's final bid for Euro 2007. These are point guards and attacking defenders, naturalized American John Holden, Zakhar Pashutin, Pyotr Samoilenko, Anton Ponkrashov, Nikolai Padius, Vitaly Fridzon and Egor Vyaltsev, forwards Andrei Kirilenko, Viktor Khryapa, Sergei Monya, Nikita Shabalkin and the still injured Yuri Vasiliev, centers Alexei Savrasenko and Nikita Morgunov. Vladimir ILYIN

Andrey VDOVIN