Perfect Finish As the Final Curtain Fell
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SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, March 22, 2012 11 Ostapchuk inspires by Perfect example Belarusian athletes win gold, silver and bronze finish as Th e 12th European Cup Win- ter Th rowing Event, hosted by the Montenegrin town of Bar, has seen 2012 World Vice Champion Na- dezhda Ostapchuk unrivalled in the final the shot putt among women. She sent her shot 20.29m, over a metre ahead of Nadine Kleinert from Ger- many — her closest rival. Bronze curtain fell went to German Josephine Terlecki (18.59m), while Belarusian Yelena Darya Domracheva has claimed two Kopets (17.83m) came 5th among 18 entrants. Small Crystal Globes in the recently Th e men’s hammer silver went to 22 year old Sergey Kolomoets, a finished World Cup; both prizes were recent junior who sent it 75.15m. won in Russian Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Kirill Ikonnikov (75.95m) took gold while bronze was award- which hosted the final round of the ed to Hungarian Kristóf Németh biathlon season (74.23m). Belarusian Pavel Borei- sha, 21, claimed bronze (69.16m) in By Dmitry Komashko Neuner. Th e latter was knocked the junior hammer throwing nomi- out at the third shooting range, af- nation (for those under 23). Th e fi rst trophy (the second of ter suff ering four misses. Darya hit Domracheva’s career) was for the every target, placing her well ahead pursuit. Th is year, she has done es- of Tora: by 8.9 seconds. At the fi - Good result pecially well in this event. Aft er an nal shooting range, Berger moved obscure start (16th place in Öster- ahead temporarily. Fortunately, Ms. achieved sund) Darya has never dipped be- Domracheva soon overtook again, low fourth place. In total, she boasts keeping fi rst place and earning her Belarusian wrestlers win six medals for the pursuit and has second Small Crystal Globe of the two medals at European claimed gold three times — includ- season. Championship, held in ing at the World Championships Th e major Cup trophy — the Big Belgrade in Ruhpolding. Th is second Cup Crystal Globe — has been awarded Th e fi rst bronze went to Ivan victory in a row for the pursuit has to Ms. Neuner, from her score in Yankovsky (under 96kg) on defeat- earned her the World Cup Small her best and one worst races of the ing Polish Radoslaw Baran in his Crystal Globe in the discipline, as season (as stipulated by World Cup fi ght for third place. Th e second she has signifi cantly outperformed regulations). Magdalena earned was claimed by Igor Dyatko (under her rivals. 1,216 points against Domracheva’s 120kg), who beat Bartłomiej Bar- In Khanty-Mansiysk, where 1,188, followed by Tora Berger with tnicki of Poland and Albanian Fat- Domracheva began her career, she 1,054. Sadly, Magdalena Neuner and jon Baro before losing to Turkish took the mass start lead for the sec- Helena Ekholm are now retiring Taha Akgül in the semi-fi nals. In his ond time. She was also a leader of from professional biathlon, which match for bronze, Igor defeated Ger- the season, several seconds ahead of may make Darya’s path easier but man Nikolay Matyukhin. Norwegian Tora Berger — her main true victories are born from oppos- Darya Domracheva celebrates with a flag on the finish of the Young Dyatko and Yankovsky rival alongside German Magdalena ing worthy rivals. women’s 10km pursuit event of the Biathlon Word Cup replaced more experienced ath- letes at the event: world champion Alexey Shemarov (under 120kg) Only and World Championship bronze- Victoria Azarenko dreams medallist (96kg) Ruslan Sheykhov. knockouts Th e veterans already have tickets to the Olympics, so were happy to al- of Steffi Graf’s record ahead low the younger generation to take their places. By Dmitry Baranovsky Five Belarusian boxers continue in play-off s of 22 year old Belarusian tennis prestigious club tournament: Osipov player Victoria Azarenko wins World Boxing Series another tournament Th e World Boxing Series has flying high This season, Victoria has ended its regular season, with fi ve maintained her unbeaten record, Belarusians going through to the Belarusian freestyle jumper winning a major tournament in next stage with their respective clubs. Denis Osipov placed second at Indian Wells (USA). The victory Sergey Korneev — the only Belaru- Freestyle Ski World Cup round brought her $1m in prize mon- sian boxer to qualify for the London (aerials) at artifi cial slope in ey, following her defeat of Maria Olympics this summer — is sadly Moscow Sharapova of Russia — 6:2, 6:3 not among them, as his Los Ange- Of four participants in the su- (seeded second). les Matadors American club was per-fi nals, the Belarusian earned Th e match began with Aza- defeated by the Bangkok Elephants 116.06 points, losing to Chinese Jia renko serving fi rst. Th e pair man- — 2:3. Nevertheless, Korneev won Zongyang (124.89). Bronze went to aged to break each other’s serves his fi ght against Th ai Kriangkai Su- Canadian Olivier Rochon (114.39). for the next fi ve games until the kkhum, earning his third win in a Dmitry Dashchinsky also did well, score reached 4:2, when Victoria row within the World Boxing Series. but the more experienced Belaru- broke Sharapova’s serve and took His Belarusian team mates Ivan Fig- sian jumper fi nished sixth, failing to the set. In the second set, Azarenko urenko and Yan Sudilovsky are also reach the fi nal four. led 3:0 and took the set, before fi - now knocked out. Other Belarusian athletes were nally pushing her opponent to lose REUTERS Th e Th ailand Elephants, which knocked out aft er the qualifi cation the fi nal set, by breaking her serve. Victoria Azarenko celebrates defeating Maria Sharapova of has Sergey Kuzmin from Belarus on round: Maxim Gustik was placed Since the beginning of the 2012 sea- Russia to win their women’s final match in Indian Wells the squad, is also out of the series, 13th and Crystal Globe 2010 win- son, Azarenko has won 23 singles outstanding for contemporary present, Serena and Petra are re- being placed last in the group. How- ner Anton Kushnir (suff ering from matches in a row! However, she still women’s tennis, especially as she covering from injuries but are due ever, Kuzmin only lost one match in a bad knee injury this season) was has some way to go to beat Martina has defeated almost the whole elite. to meet Azarenko before too much the World Boxing Series: to his coun- 18th out of 22 jumpers. Hingis’ 38 matches in 1997. Steffi Only the queen of last season, Ser- longer. She has established herself trymate Leonid Chernobayev. Victor Th e closing round of the World Graf’s record of 45 victories seems ena Williams, has remained un- as the current leader of world ten- Zuev’s club, the Istanbul Bosphorus, Cup last Saturday was hosted by even more unreachable. beaten, as has the ‘thunderstorm’ nis, so the matches should be ex- is also knocked out, having lost un- Norwegian Myrkdalen-Voss. Azarenko’s achievements are of modernity, Petra Kvitova. At tremely memorable. expectedly to the Beijing Dragons. .