NEWS IN BRIEF

Biathlon

The latest World Cup round ended in Norway with events transferred from Finland because of poor weather. Special credit among the Ukrainian athletes is due Olena Zubrylova winning four gold medals in the consecutive 15-12.5-7.5 km. races and in pursuit. In the latter three events she was assisted by her Ukrainian national teammate Olena Petrova placing second and third, respectively, reports Oleksandr HONCHARUK, The Day.

Are We on Top of the World?

Ukrainian athlete Olena Vitrychenko came out on top of the Deriuhina Cup championships, winning three out of four gold medals in the Grand Prix tournament.

Holding the competition this year was highly questionable because of Hromada being busy solving the party leader’s US immigration problems, but Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko and the State Administration chipped in, so the cavalcade of sports did take place and was a decisive success.

In the overall standings Ukraine once again came out on top of the world. Olena Vitrychenko, the constant three-day event leader added to her triumph with a spectacular ribbon show, winning the maximum possible 10 points.

The next day’s Grand Prix tournament saw her win three out of four regulation events, and again with a ribbon. In fact, she lost but once, losing to the runner-up Alina Kabayeva, reports Kyrylo STADNYCHENKO, special to The Day.

Shakhtar Overtakes Dynamo

The Ukrainian soccer championship has resumed its games. Here are the results of the 16th round: Metalurh (Donetsk) — Shakhtar (Donetsk) — 0:4, Metalurh (Zaporizhzhia) — Vorskla (Poltava) — 0:1, Prykarpattia (Ivano-Frankivsk) — Zirka (Kirovohrad) — 1:0, Kryvbas (Kryvy Rih) — Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk) — 2:1, Tavriya (Simferopol) — Nyva (Ternopil) — 1:0, Mykolayiv Sports Club — Metalist (Kharkiv) — 0:2, Metalurg (Mariupol) — Karpaty (Lviv) — 4:2. The Kyiv Dynamo match has been postponed at the request of the Ukrainian national team management.

Two teams, Dynamo and Shakhtar, are now at the summit with 36 points each. However, Dynamo has an additional game to play, reports Kyrylo STADNYCHENKO, special to The Day.

Boxing

Russia’s best masters of the leather glove have fought in Moscow for Challenge Cup prizes. No one will know the reason why the Moscow Boxing Association sent to this tournament the Ukrainian-born Kostiantyn Shvets, trained by one of this country’s best coaches Volodymyr Shevchenko, but he definitely upset their apple cart. The Mariupol athlete knocked out Russian champion Ravil Akhmatov in the first round.

Target Shooting

The glorious traditions of Ukrainian marksmanship in the running-boar shoot are common knowledge. Once Odesa athlete Yakiv Zeliezniak won a world medal in the Olympic “hunting” tournament. Nowadays the competition has been renamed running-target shooting. It is in this event that the Ukrainian national team won gold medals at the European air-rifle shooting championship in the Dutch city of Arnhem.