SPORTSLINE (06/15/03)

SPORTSLINE

Boxing

Ukrainian Vitalii Klitschko will fight World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) title holder Lennox Lewis on June 21 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, nearly half a year earlier than expected, the Associated Press reported on June 9.

The move followed news that Lewis's scheduled opponent for a June 21 fight, Kirk Johnson, pulled out of their bout after he tore a chest muscle during training on June 6 and subsequently would not be able to fight Lewis. The bout had not been sanctioned by the WBC and neither of Lewis's championship belts were on the line.

Klitschko was scheduled to fight Cedric Boswell on the undercard of the June 21 Lewis-Johnson fight. That fight has been canceled and, after the injury to Kirk Johnson, which he sustained during a sparring session, Klitschko has agreed to replace Johnson for the main event. At press time it was not known if either of Lewis's championship belts would be on the line in the fight against Klitschko, who is the WBC's No. 1 contender.

Lewis (40-2-1, 31 knockouts) hasn't fought since successfully defending his WBC-IBF crown by knocking out Mike Tyson in the eighth round in Memphis, Tenn., on June 8, 2002.

"Lewis predicted the fight won't go the 12-round distance," the AP reported.

"I do not get paid overtime," the AP quoted Lewis as saying. "Klitschko has been calling me out for some time. But he is in big trouble. He should be careful what he wishes for. On June 21, he is going to find out what it is like to be in with an A-class world champion."

The fight will be broadcast live on HBO, the AP reported.

Soccer

Ukrainian international Andrii Shevchenko helped his Italian club team, AC Milan, win its sixth Union of European Football Association (UEFA) championship on May 28 by scoring the deciding goal to beat Juventus 3-2 in a penalty shootout after the two teams played a scoreless 90-minute game in Manchester, England.

The game, played at Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium in front of 63,000 fans, was the first-ever all Italian final in the championship's 48-year history.

Shevchenko also scored in the eighth minute of regulation play but the goal was disallowed after AC Milan's Rui Costa went offside in front of the Juventus goalkeeper.

Following the end of regulation play, the two teams also played an additional 30-minute golden goal session before going to the shootout.

The UEFA Champions League is considered the most prestigious club competition of top European teams. Each national association's domestic champion earns a spot to compete for the overall club championship of Europe. The number of clubs that can be entered by a national association and their entry point in the competition depends on the association's position in UEFA's ranking list.

Figure skating

Olena Hrushyna and Ruslan Honcharov of Ukraine finished fifth in the ice dance competition at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships held in Washington, D.C., on March 24-30. Teammates Yulia Holovina and Oleh Voiko finished in 22nd place.

Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz won the event and Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh took second place. Bulgaria's Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski took third place.

In the women's singles event Ukraine's Olena Liashenko finished in seventh place while Michelle Kwan of the United States won the event. Russia's Elena Sokolova took second place and Japan's Fumie Suguri took third place. Ukrainian Halyna Maniachenko came in 16th place.

Konstantin Tupikov of Ukraine finished in 30th place in the men's singles event, while Russia's Evgeni Plushenko took the gold medal. Timothy Goebel of the United States took the silver medal, and Takeshi Honda of Japan took the bronze medal.

In the pairs competition Ukrainians Tatiana Volosozhar and Petro Kharchenko finished in 17th place, while the Chinese pair of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao took first place. Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin took second place and their teammates, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, took third place.

Biathlon

The Ukrainian women's 4x6-kilometer relay team of Oksana Khvostenko, Iryna Merkushina, Oksana Yakovleva and Olena Petrova took second place at the 2003 World Biathlon Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on March 23.

The Ukrainian foursome finished 1 minute and 23.8 seconds behind the first-place team from Russia. Germany took third place in the event, finishing 2:05.3 behind Russia.

Petrova also took a silver medal in the 7.5-kilometer sprint, finishing 26.9 seconds behind France's Silvie Bacaert, who won the event with a time of 23:46.3. Katerina Holubcova of the Czech Republic took third place, finishing 32.7 seconds behind Bacaert.

Ukraine's Khvostenko, Merkushina and Yakovleva finished in 20th, 35th and 72nd places, respectively.

Petrova also took a sixth-place finish in the women's 10-kilometer pursuit, finishing 1 minute and 10.5 seconds behind Germany's Martina Glagow, who won the event in 35:15.63. France's Sandrine Bailly came in second place and Russia's Svetlana Ishmouratova took third place, finishing 52.3 seconds behind Glagow.

Khvostenko and Merkushina of Ukraine took 10th and 36th places, respectively, in the event.

Petrova then took 17th place in the women's 15-kilometer individual event, while her ex-teammate, Olena Zubrylova, currently competing for Belarus, took second place. Katerina Holubcova won the event, finishing in 48 minutes and 28.4 seconds. While Zubrylova finished 8 seconds behind Holubcova, Petrova came in 3:41.9 behind the gold medal winner.

Norway's Gunn Margit Andreassen took third place, finishing 37.5 seconds behind Holubcova. Ukraine's Khvostenko came in 43rd place in the event while Merkushina did not start the race and Yakovleva started but did not finish.

The Ukrainian foursome of Oleksander Bilanenko, Viacheslav Derkach, Ruslan Lysenko and Andrii Deryzemlia took 10th place in the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay, finishing 1:56.5 behind Germany, whose time of 18:38.05 gave them first place. Russia came in second place, finishing 7.3 seconds behind Germany while Belarus took third place, finishing 21.2 seconds behind the gold medalists.

In the men's 10-kilometer sprint Ukraine's best finish came from Deryzemlia, who took 23rd place, finishing 2:20.8 behind Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Bjoerndalen won the event with a time of 26:52.1 while Germany's Ricco Gross took second place, just 50.7 seconds behind first place. Zdenek Vitek of the Czech Republic took third place, finishing 52.9 seconds behind Bjoerndalen.

Ukraine's Bilanenko, Derkach and Lysenko finished in 46th, 55th and 68th places, respectively.

In the men's 12.5-kilometer event Ukraine's Deryzemlia took 15th place, finishing 2 minutes and 29.2 seconds behind Germany's Ricco Gross, who won the event with a time of 37:37.46. Norway's Halvard Hanevold took second place, finishing 12 seconds behind Gross, while Finland's Paavo Puurunen took third place, finishing 56.3 seconds behind the gold medalist. Ukraine's Bilanenko and Derkach did not start the race.

Ice hockey

Ukraine finished 12th at the 2003 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships in Finland held on April 27-May 11. Canada won the tournament by beating Sweden in the gold medal game, 3-2. Slovakia finished the 16-team tournament in third place. Ukraine picked up its lone win in the tournament on April 30, beating Japan 5-1, and recorded losses to Slovakia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland and Austria.

Ukraine will compete in what looks to be a tough group B at the 2004 World Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic, which will serve as the qualifying tournament for the 2006 Olympics.

Ukraine was put in a group with 2002 world champion Slovakia, Finland and the United States in a draw held on May 9, the Associated Press reported recently.

Chess

Grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk of Lviv won the 11th Sigeman Tournament held in Malmo, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 29-May 8. Ivanchuk won with seven out of a possible nine points, a point ahead of Peter Heine Nielson, who took second place. Luke McShane took third place in the tournament with 5 1/2 points.

- compiled by Andrew Nynka

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