SPORTSLINE (04/28/02)

SPORTSLINE

Soccer

Following consecutive loses to Japan and Romania, recently installed Ukrainian national team head coach Leonid Buriak earned his first win on April 17 as his squad defeated visiting Georgia 2-1 on a late goal from Anatolii Tymoshuk. With the score tied 1-1 three minutes into injury time, Tymoshuk headed teammate Hennadii Zubov's free-kick past Georgian goalie Oleksander Shovkovskyi.

Ukraine International Serhii Rebrov opened the scoring in the 17th minute after Tymoshuk's long right-wing cross set the English league Tottenham Hotspur forward free to drive a low shot past the Georgian goalie's near-side.

The win came on the heels of a 1-0 shutout loss, in a historic first-time meeting, to Japan at Nagai Stadium in Osaka on March 21. Japanese midfielder Kazuyuki Toda provided the necessary scoring in the 24th minute as Japan held off the Ukrainian attackers who played without international scoring sensation and AC Milan striker Andrii Shevchenko and Tottenham's Rebrov. Shevchenko wanted to stay with his club team and concentrate on AC Milan's push for a place in next season's European Champions League, Reuters reported, according to the Sankei Sports Daily.

Two goals from Rapid Bucharest striker Daniel Pancu helped Romania crush Ukraine 4-1 in their friendly international match on March 27 in Constanta. Midfielder Serhiy Siscenko scored the lone Ukrainian goal two minutes into the second half of the loss to the Romanian hosts with Shevchenko also absent for the match.
In December 2001, Ukraine appointed Leonid Buryak as its new national team coach succeeding Valerii Lobanovskyi who was released after Ukraine failed to reach the World Cup finals following a playoff defeat by Germany. The executive board of the Ukrainian Soccer Federation voted in favor of Buriak, who was given a contract to 2004, according to World Soccer News.com.

Basketball

The Boston Globe reported on February 1 that Ukrainian forward and Boston Celtic, Vitaly Potapenko "has pushed and positioned himself as one of the Celtics' top rebounders," noting that "in 18.7 minutes per game, Potapenko is averaging 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds." The newspaper quoted Celtic head coach Jim O'Brien: "V brings such a professional frame of mind to what we do. He's always ready. He takes great pride in his condition. You know you're going to get a hard effort and a tough-minded presence on the basketball court."

The 6-foot-10-inch Potapenko, born in Kyiv on March 21, 1975, is the second Ukrainian playing in the NBA along with Stanislav Medvedenko of the Los Angeles Lakers. The 285-pound Potapenko has been playing in the NBA since 1996, when he started with the Cleveland Cavaliers after graduating from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Boxing

WBO heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko dealt a methodical eight-round beating to South African Frans Botha at Hanns-Martin Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 16. Botha showed toughness, but was able to generate little offense against the 6-foot-7-inch Klitschko, who, in his third WBO title defense, rained hard blows on the "White Buffalo" repeatedly before finally bludgeoning Botha to the mat in the eighth round.

Cycling

Ukraine's Yaroslav Popovych took the gold in Lisbon, Portugal, on October 12, 2001, at the under-23 world championships. He was followed by Italy's Giampaolo Caruso in second, 17 seconds back. Popovych finished the race in 4:02:43 with Ukrainian teammate Ruslan Hryschenko finishing in third at one minute, 24 seconds back.

According to the website cyclingnews.com: "Italian pundits are paying close attention to the 22-year-old Ukrainian who joined the Colnago-Landbouwkrediet team this year after a stellar year on the Italian espoir scene." The website went on to say that "The team's sponsor, Ernesto Colnago, is one of the experts with a close eye on the Ukrainian. Colnago has a reputation as a talent-spotter as well as a bike builder, having supported riders such as Eddy Merckx and Guiseppe Saronni."

"Italian national team manager Franco Ballerini is another who is impressed with Popovych," the website said and went on to quote Mr. Ballerini, who added: "Popovych is definitely a great talent. He has done great things as an amateur. He has strength and brains. He also has an optimal power-to-weight ratio and goes well on the flats without losing contact in the climbs." Mr. Ballerini added, "Anyone who wins 20 races in one year cannot be an average rider. He has another advantage, too: he acts with total professionalism. He trains a lot and knows how to suffer during his preparation. He is a tough one. In two years he will be a champion."

Chess

Less than two months after then 18-year-old, Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine became the youngest person to win the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Championship by defeating fellow Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk at the Metropole Hotel in Moscow on January 16-23, the now 19-year-old proved his place among the world's best at the Linares invitational super tournament in Spain on February 22 to March 10. He finished second behind the No. 1 FIDE ranked player in the world, Russian Garry Kasparov.

Figure Skating

Olena Liashenko improved on her disappointing Olympic performance exactly one month after the closing ceremony of the 19th Winter Games by taking sixth place at the world figure skating championships on March 24 in Nagano, Japan. She finished behind first-time world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia, silver medalist Michelle Kwan of the United States and Fumie Suguri of Japan, who took the bronze.

Swimming

Yana Klochkova took the 400-meter individual medley event at the world short course championships in Moscow on April 4 with a time of 4:30.63. Alenka Kejzar of Slovenia took second place with a time of 4:35.44, and Georgina Bardach of Argentina took third with a time of 4:36.36.

Oleh Lysohor of Ukraine won the men's 50-meter breaststroke at the world short course championships in Moscow on April 8 with a time of 26.42 seconds. He finished ahead of José Couto of Portugal and Eduardo Fischer of Brazil, who finished with times of 27.22 and 27.26, respectively.

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