Kunitsyn and Korolev lost in the first round

Chronicle of sporting events

At the tennis tournament that started in St. Petersburg with a prize fund of $1 million, two Russians sheathed their rackets in the first round. Igor Kunitsyn lost to compatriot Denis Matsukevich - 6:7 (2:7), 3:6, and Evgeny Korolev lost to the German Philipp Kohlschreiber - 6:7 (4), 3:6. Dmitry Tursunov beat Jurgen Melzer from Austria in his opening match - 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (7:0). After the match, Tursunov admitted that this fight was very difficult for him, since Melzer is left-handed, and playing a right-handed person with a left-handed person is quite inconvenient. Tursunov also dispelled talk that Marat Safin refused to participate in the Davis Cup final. According to Dmitry, Marat will indeed miss the remaining ATP tournaments until the end of the season, but this does not mean at all that his decision will affect the team championship. According to Tursunov, Safin may well play a doubles match in the cup final, he has enough strength for this.

At the women's tournament in Linz, Austria, with a prize fund of 600 thousand dollars, Russian Vera Dushevina failed to pass the qualification barrier. She lost to Italian Karin Knapp - 7:5, 4:6, 3:6.

Yezhova returned to the Russian national team

Bronze medalist of the 2004 Olympics, artistic gymnast Lyudmila Ezhova, now Grebenkova, has returned to the national team and will take part in the World Cup, which this weekend, October 26-28, will be held in Stuttgart, Germany. This will be the penultimate stage of the world series, then there will be test competitions in Beijing, where athletes who have not been able to prove themselves this season will participate. According to the head coach of the national team, Andrei Rodionenko, all the main forces of the team are currently resting and will soon begin preparing new programs.

Eight Russians will compete at the World Cup stage in Stuttgart - five men and three girls. These are Anatoly Vasiliev (floor exercise, horizontal bar), Dmitry Vasiliev (pommel horse), Dmitry Gogotov (floor exercise, parallel bars, horizontal bar), Konstantin Pluzhnikov (rings), Vladimir Olennikov (pommel horse), Lyudmila Ezhova (Grebenkova) and Alena Pronina (both - uneven bars, beam), Leiser Gabdrakhmanova (floor exercise, vault). Olesya KOMAROVA

Our lugers tried out new models

This season, several Russian lugers will compete on sleds designed by a German mechanic who once worked with the GDR team. This specialist was brought into cooperation with the Russians on the initiative of the head coach, two-time Olympic champion Norbert Hahn from Germany, who has been coaching the Russian national team for the second year. The new products have already been tested at a training camp in Norway at the Olympic bobsleigh and luge track in Lillehammer. “It is too early to draw final conclusions. Judging by the responses of the athletes, the two-seater model turned out to be more successful than the single-seater, however, now the athletes and coaches are polishing the new sled at the training camp in Turin, where the European Championship will be held,” explained the team’s senior coach Vera Bardina. After Turin, another week-long training camp is planned in Koenigssee, Germany, where the final composition of the team will be determined. On November 5, Russian lugers fly to the USA, where the first stage of the World Cup starts. Olga ERMOLINA

FIVB thinks about quotas for foreign players in clubs

The International Volleyball Federation has begun considering the possible introduction of a limit on foreign players in club competitions. This is being done at the request of the leadership of a number of national federations, which are concerned about the dominance of the Varangians in the championships of their countries, which interferes with the improvement of the skills of home-grown personnel.

The main option being considered is that the club’s application for the tournament can include no more than three foreigners, and no more than two foreign players can be on the court at the same time, reports the well-informed volleyball portal volleyservice.ru. It is quite possible that for EU countries the limit will only apply to players from countries that are not members of this union.

Please note that currently there is no limit on foreign players in European competitions; teams can declare and field any number of foreigners for the match. In the Russian Championship, clubs are allowed to use no more than two Varangians. Vladimir ILYIN

Kovalev scored against Boston

Hockey. NHL. Regular season. “Carolina” – “Vancouver” – 3:1. “Calgary” – “San Jose” – 1:4, “Montreal” – “Boston” – 6:1 – Kovalev “M” (1+1), A. Markov (1+0) .

Montreal forward Alexei Kovalev scored his fourth goal in the regular season, and his teammate Andrei Markov distinguished himself by converting the numerical majority. After three losses, the Canadiens won their second victory in a row. Ottawa leads the Eastern Conference with 16 points in nine games, while Minnesota leads the Western Conference with 15 (8).

Forward Igor Grigorenko was called up from Detroit's AHL farm club Grand Rapids to the main team. Vladimir ILYIN

Triumph caught up with CSKA in matches won

Basketball. Super League. Men. "Lokomotiv" NS - "Triumph" - 80:96.

"Triumph" from Lyubertsy (formerly "Dynamo" near Moscow), led by Stanislav Eremin, who returned to active coaching after a year's break, won their fifth consecutive victory in the championship. Eremin’s team shares the lead in the standings with CSKA; Khimki and the capital’s Dynamo have four wins in four matches each.

The World League among women's teams has started in Yekaterinburg. True, this season the tournament hardly lives up to its official status, and it should rather be regarded as a serious international pre-season competition. Among the participants in the World League there is no winner of the FIBA ​​Euroleague and the Russian championship, Spartak near Moscow, and there is no representative of Africa in the Urals, although it was originally intended that the strongest teams from all continents should play in this tournament.

On the first game day in Group “A” of the preliminary stage, the Chinese team defeated the Cuban “Havana” - 82:76, the bronze medalist of the Russian championship UMMC (Ekaterinburg) prevailed over the Hungarian “Pecs” - 71:67. In Quartet B, the US team defeated the Australian Canberra - 93:49, CSKA left no chance for the Lithuanian TEO - 101:57. Ilya TRISVIATSKY

Olga ERMOLINA