SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, November 28, 2013 11 Seizing chance Final match of season for victory By Igor Leshin provides food for thought Brest Meshkov HC loses away match to Berlin, in 3rd qualifying round of EFH Turkey-Belarus: why Georgy Kondratiev’s squad need to shake up their play Cup, but retains its chance of reaching next stage of Europe’s match relax the players, which does second major tournament not necessarily ensure goals. Until The away game in Germany was then, the coach observed the results against Füchse Berlin, a Bundesliga of his training sessions with pleasure. leader; the strong club also reached The Belarusian squad succeeded with the Final Four in last season’s Cham- quick, short passes, pushing the Turks pions League. It was a real test for into a position where they were un- HC Meshkov Brest, although they able to influence play. It was like soup played well in the first half, leading boiling in a saucepan. 10:8. Nevertheless, Željko Babić’s Despite this exemplary perform- trainees lost their advantage eventu- ance, long dreamt of, no more goals ally, succumbing to a 20:22 defeat. were forthcoming. Efficient dribbling The Brest club’s Maxim Bar- and short passes brought the ball to anov scored six times, while Dmit- the point of scoring, but without re- ry Kamyshik and Robert Marko- sult. Clearly, more goals are needed tic earned four points each. Füchse and not just in the last minutes! It’s Berlin’s two-goal advantage doesn’t likely that the squad will change tac- guarantee it a place in the next tics for the selection round of the round, so our squad should expect 2016 European Championship. a tough return match: hosted by Among the team’s faults were a Brest’s Victoria Sports Complex, on goalpost pass, a crossbar and a low November 30th. cross, which Alexander Gutor failed to use to our advantage — rolling the ball in front of the net. Some of our defence played well, with Yegor Fili- Debut in penko demonstrating fine football and Alexander Martynovich playing National wonderfully (with some brilliant at- tacks). Sadly, Oleg Veretilo failed to Hockey distinguish himself, as did Maxim Bordachev. League In attacking, the Belarusian team needs to focus on scoring, keeping Belarusian defender Dmitry Despite good performance, national team of Belarus lost in the match against Turkish national squad its concentration at all times. It’s the Korobov debuts in the NHL, only way to earn sufficient points to the world’s strongest hockey By Yegor Glebov and afterwards. Although the final the Belarusians, with Vitaly Rodionov reach the European Championship. league, playing for Tampa Bay score was not to Belarus’ favour (2:1), scoring brilliantly (co-authored by Al- If Mr. Kondratiev uses the same line- Lightning club: making him the The match against Turkey per- the match was memorable, with the exander Hleb). Mr. Kondratiev was so up, they may be more inclined to de- ninth Belarusian player in NHL haps fully met Mr. Kondratiev’s ex- team demonstrating a worthy per- happy that he ‘forgot’ to offer any re- fend than attack. He is a cautious and history pectations, since the Belarusian coach formance, after suffering criticism for placement. His first experiments with rational coach so is unlikely to start spoke much of taking the initiative to most of the past year. the initial line-up began after the 67th the tournament without thought but attack: at press conferences before The match was truly positive for minute: late substitutions in a friendly baby steps may be the best solution. Basketballers Table tennis highs and on track with lows Vladimir Samsonov fails to Eurochallenge reach men’s singles final in German Open Table Tennis Championship (part of the Tsmoki-Minsk finishes first World Tour series) despite round of Eurochallenge being seeded third The semi-final match against Dmitry Korobov in NHL as leaders of Group H Chinese Zhendong Fan finished with Samsonov’s defeat — 2:4. Beforehand, In the regular championship By Igor Grishin coach Donaldas Kairys’ the Belarusian had gained victory over match, Tampa lost to Los Angeles — trainees, who won their four opponents. In the 1/32 final, he 2:5. Dmitry Korobov, 24, was making After a tough struggle, away game in Bulgarian beat Swedish Kristian Karlsson — 4:1, his debut with Tampa Bay Lightning, the hosts won the game Samokov; Tsmoki-Minsk followed by Japanese Kendzu Macu- spending 13 minutes and 21 seconds at Minsk Arena, defeat- defeated local Rilski dayra in the 1/16 final, with the same on the ice, with a plus/minus indica- ing Hungarian Szolnoki — 78:73. However, in score. In the 1/8 final, he knocked out tor of ‘0’. He failed to score, achieved a Olaj KK with a score of the first match of Group Chinese Zhou Yu — 4:0, and, in the body-block and lost two passes. 76:68. At one point the H, Tsmoki-Minsk were 1/4 final, defeated Portuguese Marcos Korobov began the current season Minsk squad were over narrowly defeated by Ro- Freitas after a tough struggle — 4:3. with Tampa Syracuse Crunch club, in ten points behind; how- mania’s BC Mures Targu Also at the Berlin tournament the American Hockey League, but ever, the final quarter was — 79:83. were Dmitry Chumakov, Kirill Bara- was called into the NHL on Novem- decisive, with the Belaru- The Group H stand- BELTA banov and Andrey Milovanov, who ber 11th, after Tampa Bay Lightning sian club achieving victo- ings after the first round Tsmoki-Minsk defeats Szolnoki Olaj KK failed to qualify in the men’s singles lost to Boston and a number of its key ry. The teams’ American are as follows: Tsmoki- pions’ next matches are as from the eight groups will — as did Kirill Barabanov and An- players were injured. legionaries performed Minsk and Szolnoki Olaj follows: December 3rd, enter the second group drey Milovanov in the doubles. In the first period of the match, best, with Demonte KK both have 5 points, against BC Mures Targu; round, with matches Victoria Pavlovich was knocked Dmitry Korobov paired with Tampa’s Harper earning 9 points, while BC Mures Tar- December 10th, against scheduled for January- out in the first round of the major Finnish ‘veteran’, Sami Salo, then en- Petty Perry 15 points and gu and Rilski Sportist Rilski Sportist Samokov; February 2014; the win- competition (1/32 final) losing to tered the ice with young Czech Rad- Keith Benson 14. Samokov both have 4 and December 17th, ners of the four groups Chinese I-Chen Lee — 3:4. Mean- ko Gudas, whom he knows from his This is the second points. against Szolnoki Olaj KK. will then enter the Euro- while, Alexandra Privalova failed to days with Syracuse Crunch. victory in a row for head The Belarusian cham- The top two teams challenge play-offs. go beyond the qualifying round.