Shaquille O'Neal will be traded

Chronicle of sporting events

Basketball. NBA. Regular season. Indiana - San Antonio - 89:116, Cleveland - Boston - 114:113, Philadelphia - Washington - 101:96, New Jersey - - “Lakers” – 90:105, “Memphis” – “Milwaukee” – 97:102.

The leadership of the outsider Miami Association is ready to exchange its main star, center Shaquille O'Neal. The basketball player's agents have already been informed that their client may end up in Phoenix. In exchange, Miami expects to receive forward Shawn Marion and guard Marcus Banks. Suns managers have not yet confirmed this information. However, Shakil himself did not rule out a similar scenario. “We have a lot of problems. And we don’t yet know how to solve them. I haven't said that I want to leave Miami, but I think there will be some changes soon," O'Neal told the AP.

In addition to Phoenix, other clubs are also vying for O'Neill. Miami, which has lost 37 out of 46 matches this season and is the absolute worst team in the association, is unlikely to do anything to help them rise from last place.

Kovalchuk is back

Hockey. NHL. Regular season. "Islanders" -- "Anaheim" -- 0:3, "Boston" -- "Buffalo" -- 1:4 - - Kalinin "B" (0+1), "Atlanta" -- "Philadelphia" -- 2 :3 - - Kovalchuk "A" (1+0), "Rangers" -- "Los Angeles" -- 2:4 - - Frolov "LA" (1+1), "Columbus" -- "Washington" - - 3:4 (OT) -- Vic. Kozlov “A” (0+1), Ovechkin “B” (2+0), Semin “B” (1+0), “Montreal” - “Ottawa” - 4:3 - Kovalev “M” ( 0+3), "Toronto" -- "Florida" -- 0:8, "Minnesota" -- "Detroit" -- 2:3 (OT), "Nashville" -- "Carolina" -- 1:0 - - Radulov "N" (0+1), "St. Louis" -- "Tampa" -- 4:5, "Dallas" -- "Vancouver" -- 3:2 (B), "Calgary" -- " Phoenix - 4:3 (B).

The treatment of Atlanta forward Ilya Kovalchuk did not last long. Returning to the ice after a knee injury, he immediately scored a goal, but the Woodpeckers still lost. Things are not going well for Kovalchuk in the scorers race either. His main competitor Alexander Ovechkin scored a double and now has 45 goals to his name - six more than the Atlanta forward.

Meanwhile, Edmonton has a new owner. Billionaire Daryl Katz bought shares from 34 oil company shareholders for $200 million. At the same time, the former owners agreed to part with the club only on the condition of creating a special council, which they would join. As usual in such cases, the NHL still has two months to approve the deal.

Dakar will be replaced by Europe

The organizers of the Dakar Rally have officially announced the creation of a new race, the Central Europe Rally, which will be held in Eastern Europe in the spring. It provides a preferential registration regime for those participants who have already entered the Dakar 2008. The route of the new rally, 3,000 km long, is laid across the territory of Hungary and Romania, starting on April 20 in Budapest and finishing on the 26th on the shores of Lake Balaton.

Peter promises a knockout in the third round

Interim WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter said that on March 8 he will easily cope with the holder of the full World Boxing Council title, Russian Oleg Maskaev. “I’m going to knock him out in the third round, period,” said the Nigerian. “And having done this, I will give everyone the opportunity to rejoice at such a convincing victory.” I am in good shape and in a great mood, looking forward to the upcoming fight with Maskaev in order to deal with this whole situation once and for all. My victory and the WBC heavyweight title will bring glory and respect to Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”

Honorary WBC champion Vitali Klitschko is also waiting for the Maskaev-Peter fight. Only after March 8 will the Ukrainian boxer answer the question of whether he will return to the professional ring.

Our skiers are preparing for the stage in Otepää

18 Russians will take part in the cross-country skiing World Cup, which will be held in the Estonian town of Otepää this weekend. Olympic champion Larisa Kurkina, who is on the list of participants, will miss this stage due to her daughter’s illness. Olympic champion Evgeny Dementyev will also not take part in the race. As the head coach of the Russian team, Yuri Borodavko, explained, he caught a cold in Canada, and therefore the athlete was given time for treatment. At the moment, Dementiev is at home, but at the next stage of the World Cup in Liberec, Czech Republic, the skier will join our team.

Borodavko also dispelled rumors that the next World Cup stage in Liberec may not take place due to lack of snow. According to him, the stage in the Czech Republic will take place, but not in Liberec, but 9 km from this city, at an altitude of 1000 m, where there is enough snow. However, the International Ski Federation (FIS) will make a final decision on this issue today.

But in Estonia there are no problems with snow. The organizers laid out a fairly wide 5-kilometer circle. Despite the fact that it is quite warm in Otepää right now - the average daily temperature is around zero - this will not be an obstacle to the stage.

Our rowers are mired in doping

Yesterday, two more Russian athletes, members of the country's rowing team Anastasia Fatina and Anastasia Korabelshchikova, were disqualified for two years for using internal injections. Thus, the number of Russian rowers caught using illegal drugs during the year increased to nine people. As Matt Smith, executive director of the International Rowing Federation (FISA), told the All Sport agency, there has never been such a precedent in the history of this sport. There is no doubt that the entire team and federation will be disqualified, the maximum period of suspension from participation in competitions is four years. But FISA will make a final decision on this issue next week.

Prepared by Olga ERMOLINA and Andrey VDOVIN