SPORTSLINE (01/26/03)

SPORTSLINE

Boxing

With his 10th round win on November 23, 2002, against Larry Donald, Vitalii Klitschko seemed to have put himself in precisely the right spot for a spring 2003 fight with World Boxing Council (WBC) title holder Lennox Lewis.

Lewis, who hasn't fought since stopping Mike Tyson on June 8, said Dec. 1 he was planning to fight Klitschko in March, and would follow that fight with a rematch against Mike Tyson and then a bout against Klitschko's younger brother, Volodymyr. However, on Saturday, December 14, 2002, flanked by promoter Don King, Lewis dismissed Vitalii Klitschko's talents and said he may look elsewhere for his next fight.

"Vitali Klitschko at this time doesn't deserve a chance to fight me," Lewis said. "Who has he fought?" the Associated Press reported Lewis as saying.

HBO executives have said that negotiations for a much anticipated fight between Klitschko and Lewis were still under way. The network had hoped to carry the fight in April. Klitschko, who holds the World Boxing Organization championship belt, is the No. 1 contender for Lewis' WBC title, the only belt Lewis still holds.

Sailing

Australia's Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Gary Hardgrave, conferred Australian citizenship upon Ukrainian-born Victor Kovalenko, a world-renowned and Olympic gold medal sailing coach, in Melbourne on January 17.

Kovalenko helped guide Australia to two gold medals at the 2000 Olympic Games and coached the Ukrainian men's 470 class to Olympic gold in 1996 and has had numerous other significant international results throughout the 1999 and 2000 seasons, helping to earn him the title "medal maker."

The Australian Yachting Federation named Kovalenko a national coach in late 1997 and in November 2000 the 52-year-old Kovalenko, who hails from Dnipropetrovsk, was named the Australian Yachting Federation and Australian Institute of Sport head coach for sailing.

Stefan Romaniw, chairman of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations, said, "The AFUO and the Ukrainian community in Australia salute Victor Kovalenko for his achievements and on becoming an Australian citizen."

"Ukraine will benefit through ... the opportunities afforded to Kovalenko to speak about his heritage. This is a great win-win situation for all concerned," Mr. Romaniw added.

Gymnastics

Ukraine's Iryna Yarotskaya took the bronze medal in the women's balance beam event at the 36th Gymnastics World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, on November 26, 2002. She finished behind gold medalist Ashley Postell of the United States and silver medalist Oana Ban of Romania.

Roman Zozulia of Ukraine tied Ioan Silviu Suciu of Romania for sixth place in the men's finals of the floor event, finishing behind Marian Dragulescu of Romania, who took first place, Gervasio Deferr of Spain, who took second place, and Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria who took third place.

Ukraine's Alyona Kvasha took eighth place in the women's vault, finishing behind Russians Elena Zaolodchikova, who took the gold medal, and Natalia Ziganshina, who took the silver medal. Oxana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan took the bronze medal.

Iryna Yarotskaya of Ukraine took eighth place in the women's uneven bars while American Courtney Kupets took the top spot in the event. Finishing behind Kupets were Ioana Petrovschi of Romania and Lyudmila Eyova of Russia who took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Skiing

Ukrainian Dimitri Marushchak came in fifth place at a World Cup freestyle aerials event in Lake Placid, N.Y., on January 19. His teammate Enver Ablayev came in eighth place while Canada's Ryan Blais took first place. Blais was followed by silver medalist Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus and bronze medalist Jeff Bean of Canada.

Biathlon

Team Ukraine took 10th place in the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay at a world cup event in Ostersund, Sweden, on December 7, 2002. Teams from Norway, Russia and Germany took first, second and third places, respectively. Team Ukraine, composed of Oleksander Bilanenko, Alexi Korobeinkov, Roman Pryma and Ruslan Lysenko, finished in 3 minutes, 49.1 seconds, behind Norway's time of 1 hour, 24 minutes and 20.6 seconds. Russia finished just 8.7 seconds behind Norway and was followed by Germany, 1 minute, 53 seconds later.

Team Ukraine took ninth place in the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay at a world cup event in Oberhof, Germany, on January 11. Russia took first place with a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes, 38.9 seconds. The team from Belarus finished 11 seconds behind the Russians while the French team finished 32.1 seconds behind the Russian foursome. The Ukrainian quad, composed of Bilanenko, Andrii Deryzemlia, Lysenko and Viacheslav Derkach, finished 2 minutes, 41.4 seconds behind the Russian team.

Cross-country Skiing

Ukraine's Valentyna Shevchenko took fourth-place in the women's 10-kilometer freestyle event at a world cup meet in Davos, Switzerland, on December 7, 2002, missing a bronze medal by one second. While Shevchenko finished in 27 minutes, 2.4 seconds, Norway's Bente Skari finished in 26:39.5, giving her the gold medal. Estonia's Kristina Smigun took the silver medal with a time of 26:42.3 and Italy's Gabriella Paruzzi took the bronze medal with a time of 27:01.4

Shevchenko then took a seventh place finish at another world cup race, this time in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, on December 7. Competing in the women's 10-kilometer freestyle event she finished 31.9 seconds behind gold medal winner Bente Skari of Norway. Skari's time of 25 minutes, 11.8 seconds beat out silver medalist Gabriella Paruzzi by 7.3 seconds and bronze medalist Kristina Smigun by 10.8 seconds.

Weightlifting

Denis Gotfryd of Ukraine won the gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships on November 25, 2002, in the 105-kilogram category with a total lift of 420 kilograms. Bulgaria's Alan Cagejew took second place by lifting a total of 417.50 kilograms. Russian Vladimir Smorchkov's total lift of 417.50 kilograms, although equal to Cagejew's total lift, was only good enough for third place because of a disappointing 220 kilogram clean and jerk.

Field hockey

At the 10th Women's World Cup of Field Hockey in Perth, Australia, Team Ukraine finished 14th in the 16-team tournament, beating out Ireland and Russia but finishing behind Team Argentina, which took the gold medal. The team from the Netherlands took the silver medal while China captured the bronze.

Team Ukraine began the first round, played in a round robin format, by beating Scotland, 2-1, on November 24, 2002, but followed up their victory with a loss to tournament favorites Argentina, 5-1, on November 26, 2002. Team Ukraine then tied Korea, 2-2, and Russia, 3-3, before losing to China, 4-1, and New Zealand, 3-0. Ukraine lost its final match of the first round to Germany, 5-2, before edging Ireland out in the next round of single elimination play by a score of 4-3 on December 6, 2002. Ukraine then fell in the third round to South Africa, 3-1, on December 7, 2002, to finish the tournament with a record of two wins, five losses and two ties.

Swimming

Ukraine's Oleh Lysohor took three gold medals at the second FINA World Cup meet of the season, held in New York, on November 22-23, 2002. Lysohor won the 100-meter breast stroke in 59.30 seconds on November 23, 2002, by beating American David Denniston, who took second place with a time of 59.83, and Australian Brenton Rickard, who took third place with a time of 1 minute, .94 seconds.

The previous day Lysohor won the 50-meter breast stroke in 27.19 while South Africa's Christoph Stewart took second place with a time of 27.87. Russia's Roman Sloudnov took third place with a time of 27.92.

Lysohor's third gold medal came in the 100-meter individual medley. His time of 54.68 narrowly beat-out America's Michael Phelps, who finished second with a time of 54.99. Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski took the third place spot with a time of 55.59.

Figure skating

Ukraine's Halyna Maniachenko took fifth place at the NHK Trophy in Kyoto, Japan, on November 30, 2002, in the women's figure skating event. Yoshie Onda became the first Japanese skater to win the NHK Trophy in 11 years by defeating the world champion, Irina Slutskaya of Russia, who took the silver medal.

Olena Hrushyna and Ruslan Honcharov of Ukraine won the ice dance competition at the Lalique Trophy figure skating meet held in Paris on November 14-16, 2002. The win, their third this season, qualifies the pair for the Grand Prix final in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the beginning of March. Isabel Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France took second place while Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the Unites States took the third spot.

As a result of the judging scandal during the 19th Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, a temporary system of judging is being used until a cumulative version is worked out. Out of a 10-judge panel, only seven marks count but no one knows which judges' scores are used.

The cumulative system, where the individual elements such as jumps and spins will be marked, is being developed and tested this season. It is expected to be in place before the 2006 Olympic Games.

In the women's singles competition, Olena Liashenko finished in fourth place behind gold medalist Sasha Cohen, an American with a Ukrainian background, and Japan's Yoshie Onda, who took the silver medal. Finland's Alisa Drei took the bronze medal.

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