SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, June 4, 2009 11 Spring football’s intrigue winds up Revelations and disappointments of 19th Belarusian football season By Yuri Karpenko Second and third place could go to improve their unlucky position at the to any one of the following: Minsk or opening of the championship. Mean- Th e spring round of the national Brest Dynamo, MTZ-RIPO Minsk, Tor- while, Naft an has never been placed championship is over: fourteen teams pedo Zhodino, Neman Grodno, Naft an higher than 7th, so was keen to win its played in the elite division (two less than Novopolotsk or Dnepr Mogilev. Th e fi rst trophy and debut in the European last season) and, next year, their number gap between these teams is so narrow League — it could have been a dream will be cut to twelve. Based on the results that each match sees a shift in leader- come true. Th e fi nals — which saw a true of this championship, three clubs are ship. However, Dynamo Minsk seems to struggle — ended with Naft an’s victory. being relegated, with only the winner be the most obvious silver bidder so far. Aft er a 1:1 draw, the fi nal goal came in stepping up from the fi rst league. Final Shakhtyor could also do well. However, extra time — from defenseman Dmitry movements will be settled in the closing fi nishing among the top teams in previ- Verkhovtsov, of the Novopolotsk and matches of the 26th round — scheduled ous years, the team went on to fall to the Belarusian national team. Th e national for November 8th. Th e tournament table bottom of the tournament table. Dyna- team of Belarus could soon shift position already has clear trends, with the winner mo Brest rose to fi ll the gap, with reliable in the qualifi cation rounds for the 2010 almost certain. Last year, BATE Borisov goalkeeper Roman Vasilyuk proving World Championship, playing Andorra. only lost one match, so was the obvious himself a treasure in diffi cult situations. Th e match is scheduled for June 6th in champion well before time. A victorious Th e team’s halfb acks combine youth and Grodno and will be the fi rst such major schedule has also been seen this year, experience, giving the squad all-round football event in the city. Th e situation with Victor Goncharenko’s trainees again strength. within the 6th qualifi cation group is as doing extremely well. Th eir players’ skills Naft an is also keen to take a medal, follows: England — 15 points, Croatia are matched by steady performance and having defeated BATE twice during the — 10, Ukraine — 7, Belarus — 6, Kaza- fresh blood on the squad. It is no wonder semi-fi nals this year. In the fi ght for the khstan — 3, and Andorra — 0. Ukraine that the team from Borisov is wiping the longed-for trophy, Naft an played Sha- and Belarus have played four matches, fl oor with its rivals. Sergey Krivets and khtyor Soligorsk. It could have been an while the rest have played one extra

Maxim Skavysh are its top strikers. excellent chance for the Soligorsk team match each. BELTA A moment from the Belarus Cup final match ‘Golden’ Silver shot of Natalia Mikhnevich By Kirill Pirogov a shot 19.49m. She came second, worldwide, so was outperforming just behind world champion and herself. hat trick Belarusian shot putter is a gold Olympic medallist Valerie Vili Meanwhile, at a major event in success at Grand Prix South of New Zealand. Natalia repeated Halle, , young Belarusian America track and fi eld her silver success in Uberlandia Yuri Shayunov, 21, captured silver in Poznań tournament and then, in Belém, where she again for his hammer throwing. Only Th e fi rst round, held in Rio de took second place. Vili — ranked Krisztián Pars of sent the By Kirill Karin Janeiro, saw Olympic silver holder number one — continued to take hammer further. Another Belaru- (2008) Natalia Mikhnevich sending gold. Mikhnevich is ranked fi ft h sian — Pavel Lyzhin — came fi ft h. hosts second round of Kayak and World Cup Belarusian masters have col- lected a good harvest of medals Legionnaires win tough — three gold, two silver and one REUTERS bronze. They earned the same Bogdanovich brothers in action number in their debut round in ympic champions — Makhnev, celebrity handball wars the but, in Po- Petrushenko, Alexey Abalmasov land, more serious opponents and Artur Litvinchuk. They fin- gathered, including those from ished third in the 1,000m — be- Handball season ends with star match of national Germany, the UK, Norway, Chi- hind the German and French championship at Minsk’s Sports Palace na and Cuba. Only the German squads. team took home more awards In the 1,000m, the Bogdanov- The men’s gold went to Dy- in Poznań — having won sev- ich brothers — also Olympic namo Minsk, silver went to BHC en gold, three silver and three champions — were unrivalled Meshkov and SKA Minsk was bronze medals. in the canoe-pair, beating their placed third. Among the women, The leaders of the Belarusian Azerbaijani rivals by 0.16 sec- BNTU-BelAZ won gold, Gorod- team, Roman Petrushenko and ond. In the canoe-four, Dmitry nichanka captured silver and Vadim Makhnev, won the 500m Ryabchenko, Dmitry Voitishkin, bronze went to Drut Belynichi. for the second time in a row, Anton Avramov and Alexander Belarusian fans are now keen beating main rivals Stanislav Volchetsky claimed gold. Mean- to see the men’s handball squad Strelchenko and Sergey Findy- while, young Denis Garazha con- play in the closing qualification ukevich — also from the Belaru- tinued to do well, coming fifth matches of the 2010 European sian team. Eventually, the advan- in the 1,000m and ninth in the Championship — in the 5th tage of the Olympic medallists 500m. qualification group. Georgy Svir- was evident — as they took a lead The final, third round of the idenko’s trainees will play against of over a second. The third kayak World Cup is to be hosted by Slovenia and Germany in away medal went to Belarus’ four Ol- Hungarian Szeged in June. matches and oppose Bulgaria and Slovenia at home once again. The current group situation is as fol- Medals of all values BELTA lows: Germany has 8 points, Be- Audience is major winner at handball star match larus and Slovenia 6 points each, Belarusian free style wrestlers three medals. Gold (under 55kg) By Yuri Kovalev best Belarusian players, Boris Israel — 4 and Bulgaria — 0. Is- take three medals at Ali Aliev went to Dagestani Rizvan Gadgiev Pukhovsky, from Dynamo Minsk rael and Bulgaria have played six Tournament (who represented Belarus). Ruslan A team composed of legion- and the national squad, scored 11 matches while the other teams Th e international tournament Sheikhov (96kg) captured silver aries from the Belarusian cham- goals. In fact, he scored 170 goals have played four. in free style wrestling — dedicated while Sergey Pernikov (96kg) took pionship has defeated a squad in the recent national champion- The women’s team will also to the memory of the fi ve-time bronze. of Belarusian players — 30:28. ship. The match prize went to face a challenge, meeting Ro- world champion — has been held Th e tournament in Makhachka- The more experienced guests Dynamo Minsk goalie Igor Rap- mania in a two round match to in Makhachkala for the 40th time. la ended as expected, with Russian dictated play throughout, until ovets, 39, and Dynamo’s Maxim qualify for the finals of the 2009 Many titled athletes attended but wrestlers taking fi ve medals in all. the final moments. The younger Babichev was named best player. World Championship. The first Belarusian wrestlers did well at the Another gold medal was earned by team failed to bridge the gap of It was a real case of celebrity match is to be hosted by Mogilev, honourable event, bringing home a representative of Azerbaijan. two points however. One of the handball wars. with the second in Bucharest.