SPORTSLINE (11/25/01)

SPORTSLINE

Soccer

Prior to the playoff qualifier between the national squads of Germany and Ukraine on November 10 and 14, Rudi Voeller, former German national team striker, 1990 World Cup finalist and current national team coach, was quoted by Reuters on November 4, about the pressure facing him before the start of a home-at-home series between the two sides, saying: "The pressure is different from the World Cup final. It's much bigger when you alone carry the can. I'm thinking 24 hours a day about Ukraine." The newswire also quoted the German national as saying " ... I'm watching football videos the whole time to get ready. ... This is not about entertainment for the players, this [is] about German football. Everything, absolutely everything else, comes second."
Ukrainian national team and Dynamo Kyiv club team coach Valeriy Lobanovsky will most likely be removed from one of his positions according to Reuters reports on October 9. "We're still fully trusting Valeriy Vasyliovych (Lobanovsky), but he'll have to chose between the national team and his club," Reuters quoted Hryhori Surkis, president of the Ukrainian Football Federation, as saying. Mr. Surkis added that "It will be up to Lobanovsky to make a decision where he wants to coach, but he will not be doing both, that's for sure."

Boxing

According to an article published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel on October 21, the USA Boxing federation withdrew a team from a world championship competition as well as "two other dual meets in Ukraine." According to Michael Stone, executive director of USA Boxing, who was quoted by the Sun Sentinel, "There have apparently been a number of racially motivated assaults and incidents of harassment reported in Ukraine." USA Boxing released a statement on September 24 saying that "The withdrawal from the [sic] Ukraine event comes after the United States Olympic Committee's International Relations Division advised USA Boxing of recent hostility toward American citizens in that country."

Gymnastics

Ukrainians Oleksander Beresh and Andrei Lipski finished in second and fifth place, respectively, in the men's high bar event at the gymnastics world championships on November 4 in Ghent, Belgium. Vlasios Maras of Greece took first place, with Philippe Rizzo of Australia taking the bronze medal.

Hockey

On November 12 the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted National Hockey League great and Ukrainian Canadian Dale Hawerchuk into the hall of fame. According to the Hockey Hall of Fame's website Hawerchuk, 38, was working on his horse farm when he got the call telling him that he was chosen for the Hall of Fame. "I got a message from somebody while I was working in the barn shoveling you-know-what," said Hawerchuk. "I found myself going down memory lane, thinking about all of my old teammates, coaches and trainers I met throughout my career. It was a very exciting moment."

The following is an excerpt on Hawerchuk taken from the NHL's website: "During an era dominated by Gretzky and Lemieux, Hawerchuk recorded more than a point-per-game for 13 consecutive seasons. In a poll of NHL general managers during the mid-1980s asking them to select the player they would start a franchise with, Hawerchuk was voted third behind only Gretzky and Paul Coffey. He was the 23rd player to reach the 500-goal plateau in 1995-96 and the 31st player to record 1,000 points in 1990-91. His final career totals included 518 goals, 891 assists and 1,409 points, placing him 13th on the career NHL points list."

Weightlifting

The New York Times reported on November 11 that Ihor Razorionov of Ukraine took the bronze medal in the snatch event at the world weightlifting championships in Antalya, Turkey, with a combined weight of 918.5 pounds behind Turkey's Bunyamin Sudas, who lifted 924 pounds to take the silver medal, and Vladimir Smortchkov of Russia who took the gold medal and a new world record in the event with a combined lift of 928.4 pounds.

Figure skating

Dmitry Dmitrenko of Ukraine came in fourth place in the men's program at the Zagreb Golden Spin figure skating competition on November 10 in Croatia behind first-place finisher Sergei Davydov of Belarus. Also placing were Kevin Van der Perren of Belgium and Vakhtang Murvanidze of Georgia who took second and third place, respectively.
At the Nations Cup, held on November 10 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Vitali Danilchenko of Ukraine came in ninth place overall in the men's competition with Russian Yevgeny Plushchenko capturing first place followed by American Tim Goebel and China's Li Chinangjiang.
Ukraine's Galina Maniachenko came in sixth place behind 16-year-old first-place finisher Sarah Hughes of the United States at the Skate Canada figure skating competition in Saskatoon on November 3. Irina Slutskaya took the silver medal for Russia, followed by third-place finisher Michelle Kwan of the United States.

Basketball

The Los Angeles Lakers recently acquired free agent Stanislav (Slava) Medvedenko from Ukraine. Born in Budivelnyk-Horda, Medvedenko, the 6-10, 250-pound Ukrainian, played, according to The Sporting News, "39 minutes (total) in his first NBA season and showed some scoring potential. But it's his rebounding and defending the Lakers need and he has yet to demonstrate those skills." Playing against the Memphis Grizzlies on November 9, Medvedenko went eight for 12 from the floor scoring 17 points, second only to Shaquille O'Neal's 20.

- Compiled by Andrew Nynka