SPORT The Times Thursday, September 6, 2012 11 Quite good beginning

By Egor Glebov

Women’s team of is fi rst to win World League — as announced by International Hockey Federation Th e World League was recently organised for the fi rst time, with the fi rst qualifying round involving teams with ratings of below 17th. Th e men were placed in eight groups while the women had six. Prague hosted the event, which featured two Belarusian teams. Th e women defeated the French (9-1) and the Turks (17-1), allowing them to go straight through to the fi nal four. However, they then lost to Scot- land 1:2, which damaged their hopes for fi rst place. Fortunately, the Scots were then defeated by the Italians (2:0). Our girls needed only to beat the Czech team, but failed (0-3) forcing them to defeat Italy for the title. Initially, the Italians took the lead but, in the second half, the Belarusian team distinguished itself twice, proving BELTA The first throw at match dedicated to the memory of former captain of Belarusian hockey team given to Ruslan Salei’s son, Sandro its supremacy. Th e main coach of the Belarusian team, Samvel Kagraman- yan, learnt only from journalists that his team had won, as the equal number of points led the overall diff erence Cup brought to Chekhov to be taken into account. Our squad’s score over the Turks saved the day. Vityaz club, from Russian Chekhov, has won the first hockey tournament in Minsk dedicated Hleb prolongs to the memory of the captain of the Belarusian team, who died in a plane crash: Ruslan Salei By Valentin Orlov in a cool fashion. A few minutes lat- defeat, today had positive aspects. er, Dinamo equalised, taking advan- Th e result is not as important as our his contract In the fi nal match, the Russians tage of two of their opponents being teamwork.” Th e wife of former Bela- By Igor Leshin faced Dinamo Minsk and their de- sent off the ice. Th e situation was rusian hockey team captain Ruslan feat of Metallurg Zhlobin meant that only temporary however; just 31 Salei, Bethann, spoke of her husband According to BATE FC press they could win even with a loss of seconds later, Artemy Panarin sent at the closing ceremony, thanking service, national team halfback two goals. Dinamo, which had lost the puck into the net. Shortly before the audience, players and organis- Alexander Hleb has extended to the champion of Belarus, simply the end of the fi rst period, Dinamo’s ers, as well as the family and friends his contract with Borisov until aimed to do its best. Defeat would Andrey Stas took a two-minute pen- of Ruslan, who supported her aft er end of 2012 leave the team to prepare for the alty, leaving guest forward Andrey her husband’s death last September; In late July, Hleb, 31, returned to start of Continental Hockey League. Posnov to increase Vityaz’s lead, es- his plane crashed near . She BATE — where he began his profes- In the 10th minute, the score was tablishing a fi nal score of 3:1. noted that her heart would remain in sional career in 1999. With many of opened by Vyacheslav Kulemin, who Dinamo had a few chances to re- Cup in memory of Salei Minsk. Th e older brother of Ruslan, its players in London for the Olym- sent Dinamo fullback Jonas Frögren deem itself but coach Kari Heikkilä kilä notes, “Our rivals used their op- Vadim, presented the winners from pics, the Borisov club experienced sprawling on the ice; he fl icked the and fans were left disappointed on portunities while we didn’t. One goal Chekhov with their cup. Th e event is staffi ng problems, leading BATE puck past goalkeeper Kevin Lalande the eve of the new season. Mr. Heik- is insuffi cient. However, despite our to be held annually from now on. to off er Hleb a short-term contract until late August. At the time, he was keeping fi t with his old squad. Th e former captain of the national Football autumn Medal count team has been assisting Borisov in reaching the Champions League Group Stage, playing fi ve matches arriving soon with BATE (4 — in the Champions at Paralympics League qualifi cation round and one haps unwise in playing too safely in in the Belarus Championship). the fi rst half. Th ey may have been rowing. Bokiy’s result was a too confi dent of a win and their safe world and Paralympic record play led to little in the way of en- of 51.91 seconds. Aft er her Accompanied tertainment. However, in the 67th race, Lyudmila told us, “I be- minute, Lencse was given a , gan quite well but, by the mid- by prominent and events took a downturn. Feeling dle of the race, felt my hands a chance to catch up, the hosts oc- becoming numb — perhaps opponents cupied BATE’s penalty area and, at because I was nervous or be- least twice, almost scored. Th e fi ght cause I wanted this medal Monaco hosts Champions continued until the fourth minute very much. Th ank God, we League Group Stage draw In Israel, BATE draws with Hapoel of additional time, when substitute got bronze. Th e competition BATE Borisov is to play in Group Alexander Pavlov used a pass from was extremely tough, with the F, facing Bayern Munich (last year’s By Dmitry Baranovsky Dmitry Mozolevsky to score; this Brazilian and the Israeli very Champions League fi nalist), Span- settled matters once and for all. close. Th ere were no gaps be- ish Valencia and French Lille. Th e BATE again in Champions “Until the middle of the second tween rivals, as there were in Belarusian footballers will kick off League Group Stage half, we had confi dence but, aft er XINHUA - BELTA Beijing.” the tournament by battling Bayern Th e players won their fi rst substitutions, our game deterio- Igor Bokiy swims for gold Earlier, Bokiy won gold in Munich. Th e head coach of BATE match in the play-off round, scoring rated,” admitted BATE coach Viсtor By Igor Grishin the 100m butterfl y and silver for his Borisov, Victor Goncharenko, is 2:0 against Israeli Hapoel at Minsk’s Goncharenko, aft er the match. 50m freestyle. satisfi ed with the draw results, say- Dynamo Stadium. In the second “However, my team endured, hav- Belarusian sportsmen So far, Belarus has two gold, ing, “Th e fi rst thing which comes to match, their task seemed simple but ing good character. It was diffi cult at win ‘gold’ and ‘bronze’ on one silver and two bronze medals, mind about the draw is its wonder- the team from Kiryat Shmona had the end, but we stood our ground.” September 2nd, making clutch occupying 22nd place. Th e top fi ve ful diversity. I’m pleased that, this its heart set on a sensational ‘come- Th is is BATE’s third time in of fi ve medals comprises China (35, 24, 28), Great time, we’ll be pitting our strength back’. the fi nal stage of the Champions Igor Bokiy, 18, fi nished fi rst in Britain (16, 24, 14), Australia (14, against teams from very top rated Some say that attack is the best League, having entered in 2008- the 100m freestyle, while Lyudm- 11, 18), Ukraine (13, 8, 12) and Rus- championships.” form of defence, so BATE was per- 2009 and 2011-2012. ila Volchok, 31, took bronze in the sia (12, 13, 9).