SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, June 16, 2011 11 Victory at third attempt Belarus defeats Luxembourg 2:0 at home, breaking run of losses By Yuri Karpenko After the recent qualifica- tion match for Euro-2012 against France (1:1) Belarusian national football team head coach Bernd Stange made three changes in Brest Zubrs in action his line-up. He replaced Sergey Veremko with Yuri Zhevnov as Worthy result goalkeeper (who also became captain), and injured central de- among the fender Alexander Martynovich with Sergey Omelyanchuk (who strong played in mid-field against France last). Meanwhile, veteran Alexan- Brest Zubrs placed third der Kulchy was brought back into in qualifi cation round of play after serving a disqualifica- European Baseball Cup tion penalty, taking the position Six teams participated in the of main halfback. Interestingly, tournament held in German Solin- he played his record 92nd match gen: Kaunas Lituanica (Lithuania), with the national team. Th erwil Flyers (Switzerland), Stal The first half of the match saw B&S Kutno (Poland), KNTU-Ki- the host team take total control of rovograd (Ukraine), Solingen Alli- the centre of the field, confidently gators (Germany) and Brest Zubrs. pushing Luxembourg back and af- Matches were held in a circular sys- fecting several beautiful strikes. tem, with Belarus defeating Lithua- Sadly, no score was forthcoming nia, Poland and Switzerland but los- and, after halftime, Stange sent on ing to Germany, who later won the Sergey Kornilenko (famous for his REUTERS tournament, followed by Ukraine. high kicks). However, two min- Belarusian Igor Shitov and Luxembourg’s Massimo Martino fight for the ball “To my mind, third place in this utes later, his penalty skills were ing the second goal for Belarus. tougher rival than skilled France, tive stance. event is a worthy result,” stresses the employed instead. After Kulchy’s This inspired bolder play and final with two challenging matches Belarus is now second in its head coach of the squad from Brest, strike, a Luxembourg defender victory, ending the squad’s run of over four days. Belarus scored 4 group, with three more matches Igor Lukashevich. “Th is shows that grabbed the ball with his hands, defeats by Luxembourg (Belarus, points out of 6 possible — a good to play. On September 2nd, the we are developing in the right direc- allowing the referee to give Ko- coached by Stange, had previously result. The German expert prom- team will face Bosnia and Herze- tion. Last year, at this prestigious tour- rnilenko the opportunity for a played two matches against the ised that a ‘new’ team will be pre- govina at home and, on Septem- nament, we came fourth. As ever, we flawless 11m penalty kick. team, earning just one point). sented to fans at coming matches ber 6th, will play against them had no legionaries on the squad, al- In the 73rd minute, Belarus At the after-match press — not in its line-up but in style again, away. The qualification though we’re allowed three; we could doubled its lead, with Anton Puti- conference, Stange commented of play. He emphasised that our round ends on October 7th, with have perhaps won with their help. In lo dribbling past Joubert and scor- that Luxembourg had proven a players need to take a more ac- an away match against Romania. Solingen, three out of six teams used outside players, including Germany.” Based on the results of the quali- Continuing under flag fi cation round for the European Cup, Alexey Lukashevich of Belarus has entered the top three pitchers of of Montreal Canadiens the tournament. Team mate Ilya Ka- By Yuri Kovalev pied fi ft h position among the squad’s shevsky was named best in three-base strikers, having earned 45 points (20 hits. Brest Zubrs is nine-time country Belarusian striker with goals and 25 goal passes) over 81 champion of Belarus in baseball and Canada’s Montreal Canadiens, matches during the regular cham- has won the Belarus Cup eight times. Andrey Kostitsyn, extends pionship. His total number of goals contract for another year (scored during regular champion- Eighth Yunost “Andrey Kostitsyn is an impor- ships) reached 87 last season, making tant forward on our squad, so we’re him the top Belarusian shooter on the attempt happy to extend his contract. Draft ed NHL. He is now ahead of Vladimir and developed by the Canadiens, Tsyplakov, who retired in 2001. Continental Hockey Cup Andrey is among our point leaders At the last World Championship XINHUA - BELTA Daniel Nestor and Maxim Mirny retain their trophy champion Yunost Minsk every year,” notes the club’s general in Slovakia, Kostitsyn played fi ve through to super fi nals of next manager, Pierre Gauthier, on the of- matches, earning seven points and year’s tournament fi cial website. becoming the best striker on the Be- Another height Based on the results of the draw Last season, Kostitsyn, 26, occu- larusian team. for 2011/12 Continental Cup, held in Hungarian Budapest, 19 teams are conquered by Mirny to take part in the preliminary stage, Out of competition with the super fi nals taking place in Five years on from his last Th e Columbian-Argentinean duo’s Ruan (France), from January 13th- League in shot-putting has proven doubles success, at the Roland success was the revelation of the 15th, 2012. Beside the host team her outstanding capabilities again. In Garros, Max Mirny claims main tournament. — local Ruan — Yunost Minsk has Eugene, USA, despite acclimatisation prize again In the fi nals, Max and Daniel thus qualifi ed for the fi nals without having factors and jet lag, the Belarusian was In 2006 and 2005, the Belarusian faced the dark horse of the event. Th e to perform in the qualifi cation round. the clear winner, leaving none of her shared his success with Sweden’s Jo- third set was decisive. During nine Two more teams are to be chosen via rivals a chance. Ostapchuk is now nas Björkman. Th is time, Mirny part- games, each player’s serve remained the three-stage selection system. Th e leading the season, having sent the nered Daniel Nestor of Canada, being unbroken; another tie-break seemed fi nals will be a single round event. shot 20.59m on her best attempt; no favourites for the title, seeded second. unavoidable. However, with the score Sadly, most leading hockey states other athlete crossed the 20m mark. Th ey still faced challenges, with their at 5:4, Max and Daniel returned Ca- in Europe (Sweden, Finland, Czech Nadezhda may have more surprises semi-fi nal match against French bal’s serve brilliantly, realising the fi rst Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, in store, but is suff ering from various Michael Llodra and Nestor’s former break-point, which was simultane- Germany and Austria) have again old injuries. 2011 is, no doubt, im- partner, Serbian Nenad Zimonjic, ously the match point. ignored the Continental Cup. Russia portant for her, but all eyes are really proving no piece of cake; the fate of “Any Grand Slam title is a special sent its Rubin squad from Tyumen, Nadezhda Ostapchuk wins cast towards the 2012 Olympics. the tournament was decided over two event; a win with a new partner is even from its 2nd Division. Fourth track and fi eld Another titled shot-putter from tie-breaks. more worthy,” comments the Belaru- Yunost has participated in the commercial Brilliant League Belarus performed in Eugene — Na- At this stage, Mirny and Nestor’s sian tennis player. “We realised that, tournament seven times, winning in sees Nadezhda Ostapchuk talia Mikhnevich. Sadly, she fi nished main rivals — the Bryan brothers — theoretically, we suit each other well 2007 and 2011. In 2010, the Minsk debut this season in fi ft h position, but this is her best were knocked out of the competition, and can play beautiful tennis. Th eory, squad came second, losing to Aus- Th e acting 2010 European cham- result to date and she still has hopes losing unexpectedly to unseeded Se- however, must be supported by prac- tria’s Red Bulls. pion and winner of last year’s Brilliant for the Games. bastian Cabal and Eduardo Schwank. tice, which is what we’d done.”.