In the finals of qualifying female European championship the Ukrainian national handball team played Sweden twice. Before the game in Kyiv all teams in the group had equal points, and this is why Ukrainians had to win the game with the widest possible margin. And although they spent much time looking for the weak points in Sweden’s defense, Natalia Derepasko scored eight and her teammate Maryna Verheluk scored seven. The result was 27 against 16 in Ukraine’s favor. The return match in Getteborg ended in a 28:28 tie, which put Ukraine in first place in its subgroup, seven points out of 12 possible. Experts credit team trainers Leonid Yevtushenko and Heorhy Voronov for making such a success possible in the final stage of the 1998 European championships. In second place is Macedonia with six points
Photo by Volodymyr Rasner, The Day
Olena Yatsenko breaks a hold
GOLD FOR THE CLUB OF CHERKASY
The Ukrainian female volleyball tournament in Cherkasy ended with local Khimvolokno-Tryverton club (president Yuri Mrachkovsky, head trainer Serhy Holotov) winning the gold for the first time. Khimvolokno-Tryverton got 20 points out of 24 possible, while outgoing champion Luhansk Iskra finished third with 17 points after Orbita of Zaporizhzhia, which came in second with 18 points. Offensive player of Khimvolokno-Tryverton Olena Kruvonosova won the 1998 Most Valuable Player title.
Money Has Been Found,
But is It Enough for the Gold?
In the Latvian city of Saulihi the European championship in unarmed personal combat has ended. As always our athletes competed well, taking second place in overall team standings giving way only to Russia. Our masters of the mat took third.
The Day correspondent Oleksandr Honcharuk put several questions to Oleksandr Novokhatka, Head of the Ukrainian Unarmed Combat Federation and Senior Team Trainer.
“How do you think your players did?”
“I’d give the adults a solid B, the youngsters and juniors an indisputable A. Unfortunately, our experiences masters, in contrast to earlier years, failed to win a single gold medal (two silver and nine bronze), while our youngsters brought home a whole cart-load of medals: 4 gold, 8 silver, and 11 bronze.”
“And why do you think the adults were relatively unsuccessful?”
“In the first place, we found the money to go to Saulihi literally just a few days before the match started, and of course this had a negative impact on our getting ready. Secondly, the judges were too biased.







