August 14, 2020

SPORTSSHORTS

More

SOCCER

— Midfielder Bogdan Mykhailichenko, 23, signed a four-year contract with the Belgian club RSC Anderlecht, the club’s official website announced on August 3. Anderlecht reportedly paid 500,000 euros for the Ukrainian, who began his career with Knyazha Schaslyve and Dynamo Kyiv, as well as Stal Kamianske and Zorya Luhansk. He also plays for the Ukrainian national team. He made his professional debut with Dynamo and was leased to Zorya in 2017. During the last season, he played 24 matches and scored three goals.

— Shakhtar Donetsk won 3-0 in its second-leg match against Wolfsburg Germany on August 5 in Kyiv as part of the UEFA Europa League Round of 16. Shakhtar won 2-1 against Wolfsburg on March 12 in Germany. Shakhtar advances to the quarterfinal round against Eintracht Frankfurt on August 11.

— Mircea Lucescu, former head coach for Shakhtar Donetsk, was named as head coach for Dynamo Kyiv, as announced by the soccer club on July 23. The 74-year-old Romanian served as head coach for Shakhtar in 2004-2016 and won a UEFA Cup and eight Ukrainian championship titles, among the 22 other trophies that were awarded to the club during his tenure. In 2019, Lucescu was dismissed as head coach of the Turkish national soccer team. Dynamo’s previous coach, Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, was dismissed on July 20 after serving as coach since August 2019. The coaching job at Dynamo was offered to Serhiy Rebrov, a club alumnus, but Rebrov declined the offer. Since August 22, 2018, Rebrov has been coach of Hungarian club Ferencvaros. Rumors began to circulate that Lucescu had resigned from the Dynamo position, but Dynamo club president Ihor Surkis refuted those rumors. Lucescu’s contract is for two years with a possible one-year extension.

— Ukraine’s national football team will play a friendly match against Poland at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow on November 11. The match was initially scheduled for March 31, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee. A few days after the game with Poland, Ukraine will play two away matches in the UEFA Nations League – against Germany on November 14 and against Switzerland on November 17.

— The Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) has excluded FC Karpaty Lviv from the Ukrainian Premier League. The decision was made due to the club’s absence from two Ukrainian Premier League matches against Mariupol, the UAF’s press service reported. The Lviv side was awarded two 3-0 forfeit defeats for absence without a good reason. Forfeit defeats will also be levied against the club following the final rounds of the Ukrainian football championship. Karpaty Lviv took last, 12th place, in the table before it was excluded from the Ukrainian Premier League.

— West Ham United forward Andriy Yarmolenko has helped his club beat Chelsea 3-2 in a London derby on July 1. According to an Ukrinform correspondent, the Ukrainian walked on the pitch in the 78th minute and scored the winner in the 89th minute. Tomas Soucek (45th+2), Michail Antonio (51st) and Andriy Yarmolenko (89th) scored goals for West Ham. Willian (42nd (pen.), 72nd) scored for Chelsea. Chelsea retains its place in the UEFA Champions League zone with 54 points. West Ham, with 30 points, remained in 16th place, which gives the club the right to play in the English Premier League next season.

 

BOXING

— Heavyweight contender Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KO) is set to fight against Dereck Chisora (32-9, 23 KO) of Great Britain by mid-October, according to the Brit’s management. David Haye, the retired heavyweight and cruiserweight boxer, is manager for Chisora and said the fight would take place about one and a half months after the fight between Alexander Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KO) of Russia and Dillian Whyte (27-1, 18 KO) of Great Britain, scheduled for August 22. The winner of the Chisora-Usyk fight will have a shot against IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KO) of Great Britain.

— WBA, WBO and WBC lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO) tops the ranking of the world’s best lightweight boxers, as listed by the website Boxingtalk. The site listed Lomachenko at the top position, with his challenger, Teofimo Lopex, in second place.

 

GYMNASTICS

— Oleg Verniaiev won second place in the American Cup All-Around FIG World Cup in Milwaukee on March 7. Verniaiev scored 83.064 points – 12.766 (floor), 14.533 (Pommel horse), 14.133 (rings), 14.800 (vault), 13.966 (parallel bars) and 12.866 (horizontal bar). Begun in 1976, the competition attracts athletes from around the world.

Comments are closed.