SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, March 31, 2011 11 Medals from Sofia

Belarusian track and fi eld athletes perform well at European Cup Winter Throwing event in Bulgaria’s capital Our athletes have brought home three gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Belarus was represented by 14 athletes in Sofi a: the women took part in the team event while the men participated in the individual exercises. Th e hammer throw- ing was the most spectacular, REUTERS Tatiana Sharakova leaves her rivals no chance for championship title with Hungarian Krisztián Pars’ 79.84m attempt proving the second best of the world sea- son, placed him fi rst in Sofi a. Th e European Championship Quick seconds bronze medallist sent the ham- mer over 79m fi ve times. Yuri Shayunov of Belarus managed to outstrip Ukraine’s Oleksiy Sokirskiy by over 0.5m, despite at Apeldoorn tough weather conditions, to grab silver. Among the juniors, Belarusian racers win two gold and one silver hammer thrower Sergey Kolo- moets was ahead of Norway’s medal at Track Cycling World Championship Victorious finish by Olga Panarina Eivind Henriksen, who led af- By Yuri Karpenko the cyclists training to achieve ahead of French Sandy Clair speed over two legs counts), took silver in the keirin (8 legs ter four rounds. Sergey’s throw perfect form for the Olympics. and German Miriam Welte. the points race is ‘track chess’. of 250m each). At the fi nish, of 72.94m was just over half a In Dutch Apeldoorn, Olga Meanwhile, in Apeldoorn, the Th e second Belarusian In the 100 leg marathon, which she was behind the winner by metre ahead that of the Scan- Panarina took gold for the athletes had their last chance to gold went to Tatiana Shara- is divided into ten segments, half a wheel; Anna Meares took dinavian. In the women’s shot- fi rst time in her career, in the compare their own perform- kova. In the 25km points race strategic thinking is required gold — her third gold medal putt, Alena Kopets beat France’s 500m time-trial. Th e competi- ance with that of their strongest (100 legs with ten intermedi- alongside physical prowess. of the present championship. Jessica Cérival by 19cm in her tion included a number of top rivals. Sadly, the time-trial lost ary fi nishes), she claimed 30 Th e Belarusian outstripped her Bronze went to Clara Sánchez fi rst throw. She claimed gold cyclists, but lacked the gold its Olympic status aft er the Bei- points: 20 for breaking away rivals by a leg, putting herself of France. Th e omnium (six although only two of her other and silver medallists from last jing Games, leading to many from her rivals by a leg and well ahead; over just fi ve legs, disciplines) saw Tatiana Shara- fi ve attempts brought the neces- year’s event: Australian Anna leading racers sacrifi cing it to ten for two victories during she had created a half track kova taking fi ft h position. sary result. Belarus’ Sergey Ba- Meares and Lithuanian Simo- save their energy for the sprint intermediary fi nishes (fi ve for lead. As a result, Sharakova In all, 18 sets of medals khar was 4cm behind Ukraine’s na Krupeckaite. In addition, and keirin events. In turn, Pan- each). Silver went to Czech won the World Championship were awarded at the champi- Dmitry Savitsky in the shot- several other strong sports- arina decided to take part and Jarmila Machačová and bronze title and is on the way to show- onship, with Australia leading putt until the very end, when he women were absent. Th e event enjoyed success. Th e chance was captured by Italian Gior- ing herself a favourite for the the medal ranking, followed fi nally snatched an extra 2cm was a fully-fl edged ‘rehearsal’ of becoming world champion gia Bronzini. For Tatiana, the Olympic omnium and team by France and Belarus. Sports- to claim fi rst place. Meanwhile for the London Olympics seemed more important than championship gold was the pursuit races. men from 16 countries claimed discus thrower Anastasia Kash- (rather than the 2012 Cham- saving energy. She raced con- fi rst of her career. In distinc- On the fi nal day of the medals, with 41 states sending tanova took silver for Belarus. pionship). Next season will see fi dently, showing the best time, tion from the time-trial (where competition, Olga Panarina their athletes overall. Outstripping Minsk-Arena breaks record again Dinamo Minsk ranked 7,000 spectators, rather than second home match in the of Germany, with an average third among most visited at Minsk-Arena. Gagarin Cup playoff series, of 13,946 fans. world leaders hockey clubs in Europe Remarkably, aft er the pre- between Dinamo Minsk and Minsk-Arena is the larg- According to the Inter- vious season, Dinamo Minsk Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, on Feb- est indoor ice stadium within By Kirill Karin national Ice Hockey Federa- was placed 61st in Europe for ruary 27th). the CHL, uniting clubs from tion’s offi cial website, average fan attendance; however, af- Just two European teams Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Belarusian sabre fencers attendance at the Belarusian ter moving to Minsk-Arena are ahead of the Minsk team Kazakhstan. In Europe, only continue to collect squad’s home matches dur- in the winter of 2010, seating in popularity. Th e most at- a few cities have ice palaces trophies, capturing ing the CHL’s regular season 15,000, fan attendance great- tended club is Swiss cham- surpassing Minsk-Arena in bronze at World Cup championship totalled 10,538: ly increased. Th is season, pion Bern, with an average capacity: Cologne Arena in round in Padua and the best result among CHL Minsk-Arena has broken its of 15,856 fans per match. It Germany (18,000), PostFi- repeating their success in clubs. Moreover, our Minsk record of attendance at CHL has led this nomination for a nance Arena in Swiss Bern Moscow players held fi ve matches at matches four times; the fi gure dozen years. Second place is (16,789) and the O2 Arena in The leader of the Bela- Bobruisk-Arena, seating just now stands at 16,039 (at the occupied by Eisbären Berlin Czech Prague (17,360). rusian team, Dmitry Lap- kes, was taking part in the prestigious Moscow Sabre Unexpected success for Pantera tournament for the 15th time in a row. In 2002, he By Yuri Kovalev though we had no idea of the won bronze and, in 2007, level of the other teams at the was placed second. “This Belarus’ only professional tournament. During the com- event is always very chal- women’s ice hockey petition, our target shift ed to- lenging; it gathers top ath- team, Pantera, wins wards the main prize,” smiles letes of world ranking,” Latvian Open Women’s head coach Vasily Pankov. commented the captain of Championship He notes that the Be- the Belarusian national sa- Th e Belarusian hockey larusian women’s squad’s bre squad just beforehand. players made their debut at long-term goal is the World In the personal event the event, yet confi dently Championship, for which BELTA at the Moscow World Cup Alexander Buykevich won 16 matches, promptly they need to raise the number round, Alexander Buykev- Belarusians were also beat- earning the champion’s title. of players on the team. Mr. ich came close to claiming en by Russia; a narrow gap Behind them were Latvia’s Pankov explains, “Some local a medal; sadly, in the quar- (45-40) allowed them to Laima, Zemgale and Saga players have time to mature ter-finals, formidable Rus- take bronze, smashing the squads, and Estonian Sput- and some foreign players will BELTA sian Alexey Yakimenko, ar- elite team of Italy. Veterans nik. Pantera’s plans for next Pantera hockey players deservedly claim Cup of Winners probably be granted Belaru- dently supported by local Lapkes and Buykevich were season are yet to be outlined “I believe that our per- it is our fi rst season; such sian citizenship.” As expected, fans, snatched bronze from aided by young and prom- but they intend to play in the formance in the Latvian Open achievements speak for them- next season’s Pantera’s line-up the Belarusian fencer. ising Alexey Likhachevsky, men’s amateur Minsk League; Championship is worthy of selves. Our target in Latvia won’t see any considerable In the team event, our who won two matches. so far, they boast 14 victories. the highest recognition, since was to reach the top three, al- changes.