SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, December 8, 2011 11 Darya Domracheva Tennis success begins her biathlon repeated after season with victory! five years By Dmitry Baranovsky “I was completely focused have passed on the firing position today and was lucky with the wind,” she ad- mits. “It was gusting in a way that Max Mirny wins final ATP doubles wasn’t equal for all athletes. I felt event in London relaxed, as my shooting coach, German Klaus Siebert, was near- By Dmitry Komashko second). In the semi-finals, the by. This victory is important for pair narrowly defeated American him and the whole team.” In the decisive match, with the brothers Bob and Mike Bryans — Either Siebert’s prayers or the Belarusian-Canadian duo ranked 7:6 (8:6), 6:4 — who are ranked weather gods helped her find all third, they defeated Poland’s first. her targets; coupled with strong Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Max Mirny won the yearly ski work, she took her place Matkowski (ranked eighth) ATP doubles in 2006, pairing among the leaders by the fifth — 7:5, 6:3. The match lasted for Swede Jonas Bjorkman and, last lap, creating a ‘decent margin’ one hour and 19 minutes, with year, reached the finals with In- ahead of Anna Maria Nilsson the Belarusian-Canadian pair dia’s Mahesh Bhupathi, where of Sweden (who came second repeating their preliminary stage they were beaten by his present for the first time in her career) victory. Max Mirny and Daniel partner, Canadian Daniel Nestor, Nestor are the only pair of eight partnering Nenad Zimonjic. final participants to win every Max Mirny’s success in Lon- match in the tournament. don has become a beautiful con- At the preliminary stage, clusion to the season when the Mirny and Nestor topped their Belarusian tennis player returned group, having beaten Rohan Bo- to the global ranking’s top. After panna (India) / Aisam-ul-Haq bright partnering Jonas Bjork- Qureshi (Pakistan) — 7:6 (7:2), man, Max’s career was in decline. XINHUA - BELTA 4:6, 11:9 (ranked fifth world- However, a year ago, he joined Maxim Mirny and Daniel Nestor win doubles final in London wide); Poland’s Mariusz Fyrsten- another tennis star —Daniel Garros Open, and at the London that, next year, the experienced berg and Marcin Matkowski Nestor; their pairing has brought Masters finals. Moreover, Mirny pair — who are already among — 6:4, 6:3; and Michael Llodra brilliant results. They have won and Nestor have entered the fi- the top three professional dou- (France) / Nenad Zimonjic (Ser- four ATP titles: in Memphis and nals three times at prestigious bles — would continue their vic- bia) — 4:6, 6:3, 10:7 (ranked Shanghai, at the French Roland events, inspiring fans to believe torious tradition. Nadezhda Ostapchuk and Andrey BELTA Darya on victorious ski track Mikhnevich — athletes of the year! and, more importantly, ahead of Executive Committee of ship, beating the 1994 national Belaru- cathlon performance, in which he won Magdalena Neuner of Germany. Belarus’ Athletics Federation sian record set by Sergey Kasnauskas silver at the European Junior Champi- Domracheva certainly proved and Head Coaching Council of by one centimetre. His winning throw onship. Th e women’s relay 4x400 squad Winner Andrey Kulebin her abilities, finishing over 40 the national squad name top reached 22.1m. — Anna Tashpulatova, Yuliana Yush- seconds ahead of Neuner, even athletes and coaches of 2011 Alina Talay has been awarded the chenko, Ilona Usovich and Svetlana All victories leaving aside the penalty minute Nadezhda Ostapchuk has been same title among young athletes for Usovich — was named the best team, of her German rival — one of the named the best woman athlete. Th e her 100m steeplechase, in which she having been placed 6th at the World world’s fastest. Kaisa Mäkäräin- shot putt World Championship and won the Junior European Champion- Championship. in hosts’ en of Finland, who usually wins Brilliant League silver medallist is ship and World Military Games. She Th e top Belarusian track and purely on speed, seems to have joined by Andrey Mikhnevich, who is is also a silver medallist from the Eu- fi eld coaches are Alexander Yefi mov favour temporarily lost her way at the also known for the shot putt. He took ropean Team Championship. In the (Nadezhda Ostapchuk’s coach) and Traditional Thai boxing shooting ranges, while Dom- bronze at the World Championship same category among the men, Eduard Vladimir Sivtsov (Andrey Mikhnevi- tournament hosted by racheva is shooting courageously and at the European Team Champion- Mikhan has been awarded for his de- ch’s coach). Minsk-Arena, with each BIG-8 and showing a good pace on the participant defending its own track. Neither illness nor surgery continent is holding her back. Belarus was represented by Andrey “I wanted to end the race at Yielding only to Russians Kulebin — the multi-time European the second lap,” admitted Dom- and world champion among amateurs racheva after the finish. “I began Belarus’ main team placed and professionals. He showed his usual quickly, as if it was a sprint, and, second at 18th International skill, defeating Loris Audoui of South unexpectedly, I began to feel the Greco-Roman Wrestling America and Africa’s Ibrahim Konate strain. All those missed targets Tournament in honour of on the way to the fi nals. In the tough followed…” 1960 Olympic champion Oleg fi nal match, he also crushed European We hope her victory in Öster- Karavaev Ruslan Kushnirenko. sund will be her first of many As is traditional, the event gath- A spectacular WKN performance this season, where the major test ered over a hundred of leading ath- was organised, allowing Kick Fighter is traditionally seen at the World letes from nine countries. It has been Club trainees to prove their worth. In Championship. Unfortunately, held in Minsk since 1994, honouring the weight category under 54.9kg, Be- Darya’s teammates failed to match Oleg Karavaev, but was awarded offi - larusian Andrey Zayats and Ukrainian her success. The team’s second cial status of an international compe- Alexey Yanin boxed for fi ve rounds, hope, Nadezhda Skardino, let tition only last year. Th is year, it has with Andrey winning. Dmitry Valent her nerves get the better of her, shift ed from an individual to a team (76.2kg) faced Samir Durid for four earning seven penalty minutes, event and, as a result, the host coun- BELTA rounds; then a towel was thrown indi- and finishing in 59th position. try faced Russia in the fi nals — losing Iosif Chugoshvili (Belarus) and Alexander Anuchin (Russia) fight cating that the French capitulated. Young Anastasia Duborezova 1:6. Belarusian 2011 World Champi- At the preliminary stage, Belarus- Th e total prize fund — as last year Among the women, Yekaterina and Darya Yurkevich came 55th onship silver medallist Elbek Tozhiev 1 team topped Group A, defeating the — totalled $60,000. Russia, as the Vandarieva defeated Polish Joanna (with 8 misses) and 49th (two (under 55kg) was the only one to USA — 5:2, Poland — 7:0, Kazakhstan winner, received half the sum while Jedrzejczyk (Dutch school) although misses) respectively. The squad’s claim a win during the fi nal seven — 5:2, and Lithuania — 6:1. Th e pre- Belarus-1 team claimed $20,000 for the judging seemed dubious. Next year, Alla Tolkach suffered 12 penalty battles. Battling for bronze, Georgia liminary Group B winner was Russia, its second place; the remainder went the BIG-8 is likely to be hosted by a Eu- minutes, finishing last. defeated Kazakhstan 4:3. with Belarus-2 team placed third. to Georgia. ropean capital..