Chronicle

"Wings" sink to the bottom

Hockey. NHL. Regular season. “Buffalo” – “Detroit” – 6:2, “Columbus” – “Calgary” – 2:1, “Toronto” – “Colorado” – 1:4.

One of the strongest clubs in the National Hockey League, Detroit, had a very weak start. Another defeat, this time from Buffalo, threw the “red wings” to last place in the rather weak Central Division. There, in company with Detroit, there are Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis and Nashville. If this continues and the “wings” do not wake up from hibernation, then the team may waste time and lose its chance for its traditional first place in the division.

The rapidly aging Detroit was not in vain with the loss of several key players at once - Gossa, Hudler, Conklin, Samuelsson and Chelios left the team in the offseason, and the replenishment was not so extensive. In addition, head coach Mike Babcock is forced to constantly manage without one or another injured player, and the team leaders, including Pavel Datsyuk, who has not yet opened a scoring account this season, must constantly adapt to new partners.

Kolyvanov's team caught up with Romania

The Russian youth team led by Igor Kolyvanov won another victory in the qualifying round for the 2011 European Championship. Their peers from Moldova were beaten - 3:1. Even in the first half, Kokorin, who scored a double, and Balyaykin ensured the result. But a major victory did not happen due to an error by goalkeeper Pesyakov in the middle of the second half.

Now Russia has caught up with Romania, the leader in the group. According to the regulations of the qualifying tournament of the 2011 European Youth Championship, football players born after January 1, 1988 can participate in it, and eight teams qualify for the final part - Denmark, as the hosts of the championship, and seven teams that have qualified. The winners of the ten qualifying rounds and the top four runners-up will advance to the play-off round. There, based on the results of two matches, the participants in the final tournament will be revealed. In addition, the 2011 Youth European Championship is important not only as an independent tournament, but also as a qualifying round for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Now the Russian team, with 15 points in its asset, shares first and second places with the Romanians in qualifying group 1. But the fate of the group winner will most likely be decided only in September next year in two matches between the two leaders. The Romanians also have unplanned losses. If the Russians unexpectedly lost to the Faroe Islands, the Romanian youth team was defeated by Latvia a few days ago - 1:5.

Qualifying round of the European Youth Championship. Group 1. Romania - Faroe Islands - 3:0, Russia - Moldova - 3:1. Team position: Romania, Russia - 15 points each (6 matches), Latvia - 9 (5), Moldova - 7 (5), Faroe Islands - 4 (5), Andorra - 0 (6).

The Biathlon World Cup will be held in Sochi

The director of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) for the routes, Franz Berger, announced that in the coming years the calendar of international competitions will undergo significant changes. From 2011 to 2013, three new competition venues will appear on the World Cup schedule. In 2011 - Annecy (France), in 2012 - Nove Mesto (Czech Republic), in 2013 - Sochi (Russia).

According to a sports official, preparations for the Olympic track in Sochi are not proceeding at the same pace as planned. Construction of the stadium, which will host biathlon and cross-country skiing, has not yet begun. It was not until August that agreement in principle was reached on construction plans.

Mr. Berger also added that the dates for the 2010/11 Biathlon World Championships could be postponed from February to March. In addition, from next year, after the world championship, only one World Cup stage will be held instead of three, as currently. Let us remind you that the 2011 World Championship will be hosted by the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Del Potro and Haas left Shanghai

Russian Marat Safin lost to Czech Tomas Berdych in three sets in the second round match of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Shanghai - 6:3, 4:6, 4:6. This is Berdych's first victory over a Russian in his sports career. Despite the frantic support of the Chinese fans, Safin's game went wrong in the decisive game. He kept throwing his racket onto the court. Nevertheless, he managed to win four games in a row and restore the balance. However, all efforts were in vain after Berdych made another break in the next game, and then brought the match to victory.

Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro and German Tommy Haas withdrew from the tournament due to injuries.

The IOC rejected the application of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Harbin itself refused

The Executive Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Games, Gilbert Felli, commented on the desire of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to jointly host the 2020 Summer Games. “The Olympic Charter says that only one city can host the Olympics. The document does not allow the Games to be held in two cities at once. At the moment, we are refusing the wishes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” AP quotes Felli as saying.

According to an IOC representative, no changes in this regard will be made to the charter until the start of the bidding campaign for the 2020 Games, which starts in 2011.

Let us recall that Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were bombed in 1945, chose the fight against nuclear weapons as the main leitmotif of their application. However, this was initially clearly not enough for victory.

The administration of the Chinese city of Harbin itself refused to nominate the city to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Representatives of the State Council of China called this decision “premature.” “We have very little chance of success. Beijing recently hosted the Summer Olympic Games. We lost the fight to host the Winter Olympics in 2010. A second failure will harm our future chances,” a Chinese State Council official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Prepared by Olga ERMOLINA and Andrey VDOVIN