SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, April 7, 2011 11 Win slips away Bright Vasily Kirienko placed second in two-day Critérium International cycling race victory Recently, Kirienko has lacked track practice. How- ever, throughout March, he was working hard to achieve physical fi tness. Vasily had on Miami every chance of victory, which would have made him the fi rst Belarusian to win a European multi-day race. To date, only courts Konstantin Sivtsov boasts such an achievement, but not in Eu- Th e match was intriguing some nervous tension, rope; rather, his win was at the in many aspects, with both with each showing signs of Tour de Georgia. young women performing nerves. Th ey managed to Th is time, the traditional powerfully and aggressively. break each other’s serves, al- race, held on the French roads Of course, both their careers though Sharapova’s play was of Corsica since 1927, con- are on the rise. Maria defeat- more energetic and feisty. sisted of three rounds. On the ed German Andrea Petkovic However, several mistakes fi rst day, participants covered in Indian Wells, who had levelled her advantage. 198km — from Porto-Vecchio sensationally knocked out Azarenko was more so- to Col de L’Ospedale; on the fi rst seed Caroline Wozni- ber-minded and cautious, second day, they competed in a acki of Denmark, and sixth successful in defence and 75km group sprint and, fi nally, seed Jelena Jankovic of Ser- playing a waiting game. Im- in a separate 7km start. bia. Victoria beat two Rus- pressively, she also seized At the fi rst stage, Vas- sians (Vera Zvonareva and the opportunity to attack ily Kirienko cycled for Spanish Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova), when it came, lunging force-

Movistar, fi nishing second, 16 in addition to the favourite fully to bewilder her Russian REUTERS seconds behind Luxembourg’s of the tournament — Kim rival, whom she tired during On Miami courts, Victoria Azarenko demonstrates powerful attack skills Frank Schleck, from Leopard. Clijsters of Belgium. Th eir baseline rallies. As a result, also on Victoria’s side; she my results in the last three- I’m very proud of this,” not- Schleck’s victory placed him established equality, hav- Azarenko won the fi rst set: won four games in a row four weeks. I was off form in ed Ms. Azarenko at her aft er- 20 seconds ahead over all on ing won two matches each 6:1. with ease. However, in the February, when I pulled out match press conference. the fi rst day. Aft er the second to date, allowed the audi- In the second, the match fi ft h game, eighth seeded of the tournament in , Th e title, won in Miami, round, he maintained his lead ence to watch a true battle continued to develop in the Victoria lost concentration, but am playing successfully is the fi rst for the Belarusian but, in the fi nal stage, Kirienko of wills: an uncompromising same direction. Her success allowing Sharapova to close now. I went to the Ameri- tennis star this season and pushed 7 seconds ahead to Russian-Belarusian compe- in the fi rst set gave Victoria the gap to the minimum. can tournament without any the sixth of her professional come in second place (aft er be- tition. confi dence in her strength, Fortunately, the Belarusian hopes, having been unwell career. In six previous fi nals, ing placed seventh following Th e beginning of the with no break-points wit- tennis star fi nally won 6:4. for three weeks beforehand. she has yielded to her oppo- the separate 7km start). Estoni- match immediately revealed nessed. Moreover, luck was “I’m very pleased with However, I did my best and nents. an Rein Taaramae from French Cofi dis claimed bronze. Th e race gathered 122 athletes, with 101 reaching the fi nish line. No room for error By Yuri Karpenko our statistics spoilt by one as follows: — 12 Awards goal. Main goalkeeper and points after 5 matches, Al- Belarus’ national football captain Yuri Zhevnov was bania and Belarus 8 points from team opens new season absent due to injury, which each (5 matches), Bosnia with qualifi cation may have affected our play. and Herzegovina — 7 (4 Pesaro matches for 2012 Certainly, the Belaru- matches), Romania — 5 (5 European Championship sian squad’s performance matches) and Luxembourg At Rhythmic Gymnastics — 1 (6 matches). World Cup round, held in Obviously, the French , Belarusian athletes team, coached by Laurent capture rich crop of Blanc, is unlikely to lose Alexey Shemarov battles Fatih Cakiroglu medals its top position. Three or In the group exercises, the four teams are to continue national Belarusian calisthenics battling for second place Twice on podium team (Alina Tumilovich, Ksenia within the sub-group, al- Sankovich, Anastasia Ivankova, lowing the chance for a By Yuri Kovalev Mihran Jaburyan of Arme- Marina Goncharova and Nata- place at the 2012 European nia, before losing to Djamal lia Leshchik) won gold for their Championship finals. Bela- Belarusian team ranked Otarsultanov of Russia in two hoops and three ribbons rus is to play its next three fi fth in medal standing the final fight. In the match composition, ahead of Russia matches at home: on June at European Wrestling for the bronze award, the and Italy. In the exercise with 3rd and 7th against France Championship Belarusian athlete defeated fi ve balls, Belarus took silver, and Luxembourg respec- Our Belarusian wres- Moldovan Ghenadie Tul- behind Italy and ahead of Israel. tively, and on September tlers have won two med- bea, who was representing In the all-round, the Belarusian 2nd against Bosnia and als in German Dortmund. Monaco. team claimed bronze, behind Herzegovina. Alexey Shemarov claimed Another Belarusian

Russia and the hosting squad. REUTERS Belarusian fans should silver in the under 120kg representative, Ali Shaba- In the individual events, Match between Albania and Belarus not be too disappointed, category, losing to Fatih nov (under 66kg category) Belarus’ Lyubov Cherkashina In the fifth round of was lacking, although it although defeat in Albania Cakiroglu of Turkey in a finished fourth, losing to did exceptionally well, bring- sub-group D, Bernd Stan- was hardly surprising with has complicated our posi- tough final match; Fatih Russian Adam Batyrov in ing home fi ve medals (1 gold, 2 ge’s trainees lost in Tirana seven core players absent. tion. We are still second was only victorious in the his fight for bronze. silver and 2 bronze). She landed to Albania — 0:1. In fact, Nevertheless, before the in sub-group D and the third period, which ended Over all, the Russian on the top of the medals podium the host team demon- match in Albania, Bernd coming home matches may in a draw. Beforehand, team was ranked first in for her exercise with the clubs, strated a great advantage Stange radiated optimism. open the path to the 2012 Alexey had defeated Io- the medal standings for captured silver for her hoop and and it was only the skilled In sub-group D, two European Championship. annis Arzoumanidis of freestyle wrestlers, earn- ball composition and claimed efforts of Belarusian goal- more matches were held. While training, Belarus for Greece, Simas Asaciovas of ing six medals. They were bronze for her exercise with the keeper Sergey Veremko France easily defeated Lux- the first time in its history Lithuania and Jamaladdin followed by Azerbaijan ribbon and in the all-round. which saved us from a embourg in an away match met the Canadian team in Magomedov of Azerbaijan. and Turkey. Fifth position 2008 Olympic champion more crushing defeat. In — 2:0, while Bosnia and Turkish Antalya, losing Meanwhile, Vladislav was shared by Belarus and Yevgenia Kanaeva of Russia, the 62nd minute, even he Herzegovina defeated Ro- 0:1. Our squad held its own Andreev took bronze in Bulgaria. In total, wrestlers however, was the most success- failed to compensate for de- mania in a tough match at but failed to take advantage the under 55kg weight cat- from 13 countries claimed ful at the World Cup in Pesaro, fenseman Alexander Mar- home — 2:1. The situation of several opportunities to egory, beating Francisco medals at the European winning the all-round. tynovich’s mistake, leaving within the group is now score. Sánchez Parra of and Championship.