Translated material
Week calendar
The World Shooting Ski Championships are being held for the 42nd time. A year ago, on the Italian track in the overall medal standings, Russia shared fourth place with Sweden - one gold, one silver and one bronze award each. Of the dozen disciplines, our biathletes won only the men's relay (the most prestigious and spectacular event of the program), Maxim Chudov became second in the pursuit, Natalya Guseva third in the sprint. The Germans achieved the greatest success - five victories.
The current championship opens on Saturday with men's and women's sprints, followed by pursuit races the next day. Head coach Vladimir Alikin has already determined the composition of our participants for the men's sprint - these are world relay champions Ivan Tcherezov, Maxim Chudov, Dmitry Yaroshenko and Nikolai Kruglov.
VOLLEYBALL. February 5th. "Match of Stars" of the Russian men's championship. Moscow. February 7, 9. Super League. Men. 11th round . February 7, 9--10. Super League. Women. 6th round .
The second “Match of Stars” in the history of Russian volleyball is timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the existence of this sport in our country. The starting point was 1923, when the first official match took place in the capital. At the moment, the Super League is the strongest national championship in the whole world, and it is no coincidence that the attention of foreign fans is riveted to the upcoming “Match of Stars”.
Here are the lineups of the participating teams.
Team of Russian stars. Head coach - Vladimir Alekno (released coach of the Russian national team). Binders - Vadim Khamuttskikh (“Fakel”, Novy Urengoy), Sergey Grankin. Diagonal - Semyon Poltavsky, Pavel Kruglov (all - Dynamo, Moscow), Alexey Cheremisin (Dynamo-Yantar, Kaliningrad). Blockers - Alexey Kuleshov (Iskra, Odintsovo), Alexander Volkov (Dynamo M), Alexey Kazakov, Leonid Kuznetsov (both Ural, Ufa). Finishers - Sergey Tetyukhin, Alexander Kosarev (both Dynamo-TTG, Kazan), Yuri Berezhko (Dynamo M), Dmitry Krasikov (Lokomotiv-Belogorye, Belgorod). Libero - Alexey Verbov (Iskra).
Team of foreign stars. Head coach - Daniele Bagnoli (Italy, Dynamo M). Binders - Lloy Ball (USA, Dynamo-TTG), Loïc De Kergre (France, Ural). Diagonal -- Clayton Stanley (USA, Dynamo-TTG), Hector Soto (Puerto Rico, Lokomotiv, Novosibirsk), Jochen Schops (Germany, Iskra). Blockers - Thomas Hoff (USA, “Torch”), Jason Haldon (Canada, “Lokomotiv-Izumrud”, Yekaterinburg), Steve Brinkman (Canada, “Yaroslavich”), Denis Chaus (Ukraine, “Ugra-Samotlor”, Nizhnevartovsk) . The finishers are Zhiba (Brazil, Iskra), Domotor Meszáros (Hungary, Fakel), Thomas Sammelvuo (Finland, Dynamo Yantar), William Priddy (USA, Lokomotiv Novosibirsk). Libero - Alan (Brazil, Dynamo, Moscow).
BASKETBALL. February 5, 8. FIBA Euroleague. Women. 1/8 finals. The first and second matches of the best-of-three series . February 6-7. " Final Four" of the Russian Cup. Men. Kazan. FIBA European Cup. Women. 1/8 finals. Return matches . February 9-10. Super League. Men.
The main event of the week is the “Final Four” of the Russian Cup. The trophy has been played in this format for the sixth year in a row. This time the quartet of the strongest teams in the draw is hosted by Kazan with its magnificent “Basket Hall”. In the semi-finals they meet: Dynamo M - Khimki, CSKA - UNICS. The capital's army team in the second pair looks like clear favorites, even though they will be opposed by the home team. But in another game it is more difficult to predict the winner.
In the Women's Euroleague, following the results of the group stage, all four Russian clubs made it to the playoffs. The single-elimination tournament bracket is deliberately structured so as not to turn the Final Four into something like a national championship. Our teams in the 1/8 final series (according to the “1--1--1” scheme) with equal victories after two matches in the third game will have home court advantage.
Composition of pairs of the first round of the playoffs: CSKA (Moscow) - Salamanca (Spain), UMMC (Ekaterinburg) - Villeneuve d'Ascq (France), Fenerbahce (Turkey) - Wisla (Poland) ), "Bourges" (France) - "Euroleasing Sopron" (Hungary), "Spartak" (Moscow region) - TEO (Lithuania), "Ros Casares" (Valencia) - "Valencin" (France), " Gambrinus (Czech Republic) - Pecs (Hungary), Dynamo M - Gdynia (Poland).
TENNIS. February 4--10. WTA tournaments (women). Paris (France), Pattaya (Thailand). February 8--10. Davis Cup (men). World group. 1/8 finals.
The Russian team was clearly unlucky with the draw for the most prestigious team tournament. Already in the first round, our tennis players will be confronted by the newly crowned winner of the Australian Open, Serbian Novak Djokovic, and Janko Tipsarevic, capable of any sporting feats, who in Melbourne almost beat the world's first racket, Swiss Roger Federer. Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev took Nikolai Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov and Marat Safin into the fighting force. As for the Serbs, in addition to the players mentioned, they have a very strong doubles specialist, Nenad Zimonjic. The match will take place at the Small Sports Arena of Luzhniki. The coating is hard (“rukort”).
In other games there are: Czech Republic - Belgium (Ostrava, synthetic), Argentina - Great Britain (Buenos Aires, clay), Israel - Sweden (Ramat Hasharon, hard), Germany - Korea (Brunschweig, clay), Peru -- Spain (Lima, clay), Romania -- France (Sibiu, hard), Austria -- USA (Vienna, clay).
FOOTBALL. February 4--10. African Cup of Nations. Ghana.
Today the quarterfinals are played: Tunisia - Cameroon and Egypt - Angola. The semi-finals are scheduled for February 7. The game for bronze is on Saturday, the decisive match will take place on Sunday.
SKATES. February 9-10. World Classic All-Around Championships. Berlin (Germany).
SKI RACING. February 9-10. World Cup stage. Otepää (Estonia). 10 km (women) and 15 km (men) classic style, sprint .
SPRINGBOARD JUMPING. February 8-9. World Cup stage. Liberec (Czech Republic). Springboard HS134 - two starts .
MOUNTAIN SKIING. February 9. World Cup stage. Men. Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany). Slalom. February 9--10. World Cup stage. Women. Sestriere (Italy). Downhill, super-G .
FREESTYLE. February 9--10. World Cup stage. Cypress Mountain (Canada). Mogul, acrobatics .
SNOWBOARD. February 9. World Cup stage. Moscow. Acrobatic jumps .
SKELETON. February 8-9. World Cup stage. Winterberg (Germany).
BOBSLED. February 9-10. World Cup stage. Winterberg.
SHORT TRACK. February 8--10. World Cup stage. Salt Lake City (USA).