SPORTSLINE (09/15/02)

SPORTSLINE

Shooting

Australian Natalia Rahman won the silver medal at the 2002 Manchester Games in the skeet category on August 2. Rahman beat Edith Barnes of Scotland, who took third place in the event, but lost to fellow Aussie Lauryn Ogilvie. Rahman is of Ukrainian descent and along with her family regularly attends the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in North Melbourne, Australia, according to the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations.

The chairman of the AFUO, Stefan Romaniw, said on August 6, "We salute her and are proud that an Australian Ukrainian can achieve success."

Rahman, along with Australian teammate Lauryn Ogilvie, also won the first-ever gold medal in the team event on July 29. The Australian pair beat Susan Bramley and Pinkey le Grelle of England, who took second place, and bronze medalists Linda Conley and Susan Nattrass of Canada.

Tennis

Sixteenth seed Mykyta Kryvonos of Flushing, N.Y., fell to 18th seed Travis Helgeson of Overland Park, Kan., 6-3, 6-2 on August 8 in quarterfinal play at the United States Tennis Association's boys 16 event.

The New York Times featured the 15-year-old Ukrainian in an article on August 5. "Kryvonos's indomitable work ethic was forged among the steel factories of Donetsk, Ukraine," The Times said. Nick Brebenel, a former Romanian national team member and current coach of Kryvonos, was quoted by The Times as saying, "Mykyta has a big chance to become the next American superstar."

Chess

Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov lost an eight-game exhibition match to Viswanathan Anand of India, held in Mainz, Germany, on August 15-18. Anand defeated Ponomariov, the current International Chess Federation FIDE champion, by a score of 4 1/2-3 1/2. The exhibition was the feature match during the Chess Classic also held in Mainz, Germany.

Track and field

Ukraine's Zhanna Pintusevich-Block took second place in the 100-meter sprint at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in London on August 23. American Marion Jones took first place with a time of 10.97 seconds, while Chryste Gaines of the United States took third place with a time of 11.12 seconds, just 0.01 behind Pintusevich-Block.

Also at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix, two Ukrainians tied for fourth place in the women's high jump event on August 23, while teammate Inga Babakova took third place. South Africa's Hestrie Cloete finished first with a jump of 6 feet, 5 1/2 inches. Marina Kuptsova of Russia took second place, also with a jump of 6-5 1/2. Inga Babakova, Iryna Mykhalchenko and Viktoria Palamar all jumped 6-4 1/4, however, Mykhalchenko and Palamar took fourth place.
American Marion Jones beat Ukraine's Zhanna Pintusevich-Block twice at the Van Damme Memorial track meet in Brussels on August 30. Jones won the 100-meter sprint in 10.88 seconds, finishing 0.02 ahead of Pintusevich-Block, who is the current world champion. Jamaica's Tanya Lawrence took third place in the event with a time of 10.93. In the 200-meter sprint, Jones finished in 22.11 seconds, 0.13 ahead of Pintusevich-Block, who finished in 22.24. Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas finished third with a time of 22.58.

In the high jump event at the Van Damme Memorial track meet, Ukrainians Iryna Mykhalchenko and Inga Babakova took fourth and fifth places, respectively. Sweden's Kajsa Bergqvist took first with a jump of 6 feet, 6 1/4 inches while Hestrie Cloete of South Africa jumped 6-5 1/2 for second place. Marina Kuptsova of Russia also jumped 6-5 1/2 but took third place. Mykhalchenko and Babakova both jumped 6-4 1/4, however, Mykhalchenko took the higher spot.
Serhiy Lebid of Ukraine took third place in the men's 5,000-meter running event at the European Championships in Munich on August 11 with a time of 13:40.00. Alberto Garcia of Spain took first place with a time of 13:38.18, while Frenchman Ismail Sghyr took second place with a time of 13:39.81.

Ukraine took second place in the four-man 100-meter relay at the European Championships with a time of 38.53 seconds. Britain took first place with a time of 38.19 and Poland took third place with a time of 38.71.

In the men's long jump in Munich, Oleksii Lukashevych of Ukraine captured first place with a jump of 26 feet, 6 1/4 inches. Teammate Roman Schurenko, who took the bronze medal from Lukashevych in Sydney 2000, finished fourth with a jump of 26-1 1/2. Sinisia Ergotic of Croatia finished in second place with a jump of 26-3 and Yago Lamela of Spain took third place with a jump of 26-2 3/4. Lukashevych, who lost an Olympic medal in the final round two years ago in Sydney, had better fortunes this time, as only one other jumper, Sinisa Ergotic, could manage eight meters.

On the women's side in Munich, Ukraine took fifth place in the 100-meter four-man relay with a time of 43.38 seconds. France's time of 42.46 gave it first place, while Germany took second with a time of 42.54. Russia finished third with a time of 43.11.
Oleksii Lukashevych of Ukraine finished second in the men's long jump at the Raiffeisen Gugl-Meeting in Linz, Austria, on August 19. His jump of 26 feet, 3 1/2 inches beat Saudi Arabia's Hussein Al Sabee, who took third place with a jump of 26-0. American Dwight Phillips finished in first place with a jump of 27-6.

Also in Linz, Serhii Osovych of Ukraine finished in fifth place in the men's 200-meter sprint with a time of 20.86 seconds. Frank Fredericks of Namibia finished in first place with a time of 20.15, while Aziz Zakari of Ghana took second place in 20.52. Troy Douglas of the Netherlands finished in third place with a time of 20.56.

Olena Krasovska of Ukraine captured third place in the women's 100-meter hurdles in Linz. Her time of 12.90 seconds put her behind Jamaican Vonette Dixon, who took first place, and American Jenny Adams. Both finished in 12.85.
Krasovska also took second place in the 100-meter hurdles at the Rieti 2002 track meet in Rieti, Italy, on September 8. American Anjanette Kirkland took first place with a time of 12.85 seconds. Spain's Aliuska Lopez finished in third place with a time of 13.06, just 0.01 behind Krasovska's time of 13.05.

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