SPORTSLINE

Track and field

• Three Ukrainian athletes placed in the top three in their respective events on July 4 at the Athletissima Grand Prix track and field event in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ukrainian Inga Babakova placed first in the high jump after clearing a height of 6-8, handily out-jumping second- and third-place finishers Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria and Hestrie Storbeck-Cloete of South Africa by more than two inches.

Tetiana Tereschuk-Antipova took second place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.35 seconds. Tereshchuk-Antipova trailed Nezha Bidouane of Morocco, who finished in 54.02 seconds. Coming in third was Yulia Nosova of Russia who logged a time of 54.45 seconds.

Ukrainian sprinter Zhanna Pintusevych-Block finished third in the 100-meter dash behind Marion Jones of the United States, who finished first, and Chandra Stirrup of the Bahamas, who came in second. Pintusevych-Block finished with a time of 11.10, while Jones' winning time was clocked at 11.04.

• The Paris Grand Prix held in Saint-Denis, France, on July 6 also saw three Ukrainians coming home with top-three finishes. Pintusevych-Block this time finished second, again behind Jones of the United States. Although the Ukrainian improved her time to 10.96 seconds, she still failed to beat Jones, who ran the fastest 100-meter dash of the season, recording a blazing 10.84 seconds.

Tereschuk-Antipova won first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.01 seconds, beating out silver medalist Debbie-Ann Paris of Jamaica and bronze medalist Nosova of Russia.

Ukrainian high jumper Viktoria Palamar won third place with a jump of 6-6. First- and second-place finishers were Veneva of Bulgaria and Kajsa Berqvist of Sweden.

• Although some of Team Ukraine's finest athletes were missing from the Nikaia Grand Prix track and field event in Nice, France, on July 9, two Ukrainians still managed to secure top placings.

The Nikaia GP did not include the women's 400-meter hurdles, a race in which Ukrainian team member Tereschuk-Antipova has been especially dominant this season. Also missing from the proceedings was the women's high jump, in which Ukrainians Palamar and Babakova have been perennial contenders.

The only Ukrainian to bring home a first-place victory was long-jumper Aleksei Lukasevych, who leaped 26 feet, 7 1/4 inches to secure victory over second-place finisher Savante Stringfellow of the United States. Kevin Dilworth, another American, earned third place with a jump of 25-9 1/2.

Ukrainian triple-jumper Olena Hovorova was the only other team member to win a medal at Nikaia. Her 46 feet, nine inches earned her second place behind Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia, who leaped 48-8.

• Babakova and Palamar placed first and second, respectively, dominating the women's high jump competition at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, on Friday, July 13.

Tereschuk-Antipova also took home a gold medal at the Bislett Games, beating out Nezha Bidouane of Morocco and Tonja Buford-Bailey of the United States.

Pintusevych-Block of Ukraine again took second behind her perennial rival Jones, who extended her winning streak to 51 races in the women's 100-meter dash on July 13. Pintusevych-Block, who came close to upsetting Jones earlier this season, finished in 11.05 seconds, while Jones ran a 10.94. Chryste Gaines, also from the United States, came in third with a time of 11.08 seconds.

Lukasevych, the only Ukrainian male athlete to place in the top three, won a silver medal in the long jump behind Dilworth of the United States. Lukasevych's jump of 26 feet, 8 1/4 inches was just shy of Dilworth's 26-9.

• Ukraine's world class track team will meet with fans at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 29, at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in Edmonton.

After a brief introduction, the Ukrainian athletes will talk about training, traveling and competing and will gladly answer any questions from the audience.

The event, which costs $15 for adults and $7 for children under 12, will include refreshments and a light lunch, and allows opportunities for plenty of autographs and pictures. For tickets call (780) 414-1624.

Volleyball

• Ukraine's national men's volleyball team defeated Team Canada in the 2001 International Challengers Cup, winning two of three matches held in Winnipeg's Investor's Group Athletic Center on May 22, 24 and 25.

Led by power hitter Oleksii Gatin, Team Ukraine won the first match 3-1 before a crowd of 2,400 on Tuesday, May 22.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Team swept the Canadians 3-0 and clinched the series, much to the delight of the Ukrainian fans.

Team Canada won the first two games of the third match, but the Ukrainians tied it up at 2-2, forcing a fifth game. Canada bounced back to win the match after a 15-9 triumph in the fifth.

Soccer

• Ukraine took silver at the UEFA European Futsal (indoor soccer) Championship, losing to Spain 2-1 in overtime in the final at the Luzhniki Sportshall, Moscow, on February 28.

The Ukrainians took an early lead in the 27th minute, after Heorhii Melnikov's successful attempt from 12 meters. Teammate Serhii Koridze nearly added another moments later, but his shot, which had beaten Spanish goalie Luis Amado, rebounded off the base of the goal post.

Ukrainian goalie Vladyslav Kornieiev made two saves as Spain increased its offensive pressure, but the Spaniards equalized in the 33rd minute after Alberto Riquer capitalized on a botched clearance.

The game remained scoreless until overtime, when Spain's Javi Sanchez buried the "golden goal" from short range.

Boxing

• Ukrainian boxing phenom Volodymyr Klychko dominated American fighter Derrick Jefferson, successfully defending his WBO world heavyweight title in front of 8,000 spectators at Munich's Rudi-Sedlmayer Arena on March 24.

In the first round, Klychko delivered a left hook that knocked Jefferson to the mat and left the 260-pound American with a swollen left eye.

The heaviest knockdown came in the second round, when a confident Klychko landed a big right, crushing Jefferson and all hopes of a comeback. After watching the defenseless Jefferson get knocked down again in the same round, referee Rudy Battle called the fight with 51 seconds left in the second.

The fight was Klychko's 36th victory in 37 fights, with 33 knockouts. Jefferson lost for the third time in 27 professional contests

- compiled by Andrew Olesnycky

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 22, 2001, No. 29, Vol. LXIX

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