Spring Cup-2002 First International Tournament ends
Their permanent balance and boring caution even in the most extreme situations is so predictable that most of them are thought of as absolutely free from adventure and commonplace. They are so logical in their judgments that they look like robots rather than humans. In other words, what is good for an ordinary mortal is not good for a diplomat. Thus the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine decided to refute all these maxims, organizing, together with a leading Ukrainian bank, the Spring Cup-2002 tennis tournament last weekend on the Nauka-Sport Inc. courts. It is perhaps too pretentious to call the competition international, but it is up to you to judge. Among the participants were not only Ukrainian foreign ministry diplomats and officials but also representatives of the embassies of Bulgaria, Italy, the Czech Republic, and South Korea. Wishing to shed the excessive adrenaline, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Zlenko also appeared on the court and produced so many bons mots that it would be a crime not to quote some. No. 1, “I’ve always been enthusiastic about tennis, for it helps cure all diplomatic diseases.” No. 2, “Both lawn tennis and diplomacy are games. You can’t goof off in either.” No. 3, “Tennis is a democratic and ritual game. It is for any age and gender.”
Asked by The Day which diplomatic diseases the minister has already cured himself of, Mr. Zlenko replied, “The main disease is lack of initiative and inertia. When one is full of enthusiasm, he copes with his duties better.” Mr. Zlenko’s tennis record is worthy of note. Many still remember his tennis match against Andrei Kozyrev, Russia’s former minister of foreign affairs. It was then that Kyiv and Moscow were dividing up their nuclear weapons. At that time Zlenko won. The minister also proudly looks back on tennis matches against Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski who Mr. Zlenko says “still recalls the game,” and one against Klaus Kinkel, ex-foreign minister of Germany. Mr. Zlenko was both lucky and unlucky at the 2002 tournament: even Lady Luck can sometimes adhere to double standards. On the competition’s first day, Mr. Zlenko, paired off with Herman Beniaminov, president of the Tennis Federation of Ukraine, beat his rivals 6:4. On the second day, a Sunday, luck turned its back on the minister in the semifinals. Or perhaps the rivals (diplomats Krasimir Nedelchev-Minchev from the Embassy of Bulgaria and Miroslav Polacek from that of the Czech Republic) proved more serious. In addition, the Czech-Bulgarian pair was not exactly bursting to play up (or down?). The match was short. The six games rushed by at the speed of sound (not without the efforts of a weaker pair Zlenko-Beniaminov). The third game in fact reflected the spirit of the whole match. Zlenko sent the ball out: 15 to 0. Zlenko failed to parry: 30 to 0. Out again. Again Zlenko: 40 to 0. Another mistake. The game ended. Although the final sixth game was tougher, the minister-tennis-president pair never managed at least to shift the score from nil. The set ended with a score 6:0. Mr. Zlenko smiled as he left the court.
All tournament participants were quite satisfied with the competition, leaving aside those who lost and expressed their discontent with expletives and nervously stashed their rackets: thank God, not at their rivals. This kind of thing only occurred in the final game. The tournament was won by Korean diplomats Doo Yi Yang and Li Hwan Be. Did the rest lose? Probably not. A wise one once said: anyone who plays can lose, but anyone who does not play will never win. Ambassador of Italy Iolanda Brunetti Goetz shared her impressions of the competitions with The Day, “Tennis is a game of friendly communication. This is the way diplomats should be. The most important thing in both cases is the exchange of opinions, meetings, and talks. All kinds of talks, incidentally, resemble shooting the ball from one side to the other.”
Bulgarian Ambassador Aleksandr Dimitrov said the tournament was “a true sports feast, the feast of the heart,” where “all wore a smile on their faces.”
This was the first ever tennis tournament among Kyiv diplomats. Yet, Minister Zlenko promised to make it a tradition. The Day has also managed to learn that the foreign ministry plans to hold a basketball competition.
