Russia Sports News:

11th Gold for Russia

Russian athlete Natalia Antyukh has won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles covering the distance in 52.70 seconds setting a career record.

Russian men’s basketball team knocked Lithuania out of the competition

Russia’s team continues to semifinals of men’s basketball. With a close score of 83-74 Russia defeated Lithuania’s team and now will face the winner of today’s match between France and Spain.

Russia entered the elimination rounds as the second best team among remaining teams with just one loss which came against Australia. While team USA continues as the top scoring team. On August 12th at 15:00 PM (GMT) Gold Medal Game will determine the winner of 2012 Olympic Basketball.

Turned into a really good olympics for Russia!

Anna Chicherova won an emotional Olympic gold medal in the women's high jump on Saturday, clearing 2.05 meters for victory. Chicherova's fellow Russian Svetlana Shikolina made the same height but had to settle for bronze due to more failures in the competition.

Mariya Savinova took Olympic gold in the women’s 800 meters final Saturday, edging out South Africa’s Caster Semenya as bronze also went to Russia.

Yelena Lashmanova won the women's 20km walk Olympic title on Saturday in a new world record of 1hr 25min 02sec. The 19-year-old's late surge saw her pass longtime leader and defending champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia (1hr 25min 09sec) while China's Qieyang Shenjie set an Asian record in taking bronze (1hr 25min 16sec).

Evgeniya Kanaeva successfully defended her Olympic rhythmic gymnastics title on Saturday by winning the individual all-around final at London's Wembley Arena. The three-time world champion finished ahead of compatriot Daria Dmitrieva, with Liubou Charkashnya of Belarus winning the bronze medal.

Sergey Kirdyapkin won the men's 50 kilometres walk Olympic title here on Saturday.

Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko have won gold in the men's 200-metre K-2 at the Olympic canoe sprint regatta on Saturday. In the finals the Russians won in a time of 33.507 seconds.

Russia’s Olympic performance ‘by no means bad’ - NOC chief

Head of the National Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov spoke about this in a video link from London on Saturday.

Team Russia has won medals across the spectrum of the Olympic disciplines, and its medal haul is approaching 70. Beijing brought it 72 medals. This means that London may bring even more. This is what Mr Zhukov had to say:

"It’s a Russian custom to start slowly and gain speed later. I do hope the competitions to be held on the two closing days of the London Olympics will see more Russian victories. We are fielding a number of promising athletes this weekend. I’m among the most ardent supporters of them."

Zhukov urged the Russian supporters to enjoy the competitions, rather than simply count medals.

He praised Russia’s female gymnasts, synchronized swimmers and, most of all, judo wrestlers, who have already won as many as three gold medals.

NOC President also regretted failures and shortfalls:

"The fencers, for instance, could have done much, much better, if their remarkable results in the inter-Olympic period are anything to go by. Our weightlifters deserve the highest of praises, and their worse than expected performance in London is the result of bad luck. Some of them suffered injuries, while others failed to qualify for medals due to a negligible amount of extra bodyweight."

In the overall medal count, Russia is fourth after the hosting country. Zhukov said he believes Britain owes its third place to strong support from the terraces, which in some instances has even influenced refereeing – for example, in boxing matches. Unfortunately, Russian supporters in London were very few and far between. They had been probably scared off by high prices.

Mr Zhukov thanked the Russian media for their coverage of the Olympics. He also said the NOC would instruct Russian athletes on how to behave with the media.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_11/Russia-s-Olympic-performance-by-no-means-bad-NOC-chief/

The Russian men's basketball team has won the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games. In the match for the third place, the Russian basketball-players defeated the Argentine team with a score of 81:77. This is the first medal for Russia in men basketball after 1988 Olympics.

Russia emphatically captured the rhythmic gymnastics gold at the London Olympics on Tuesday, finishing well clear of Belarus, who claimed silver.
The Russians won with a total score of 57.000 awarded 28.300 for their spectacular final performance with ribbons and hoops.

Russian boxer Egor Mekhontcev defeats Kazakhstan's Adilbek Niyazymbetov by the narrowest of margins to claim Olympic gold in Men's Light Heavy (81kg).

and the greatest moment of day for Russia

Russian men's volleyball team wins gold medal after defeated Brazil in a dramatic match with 3-2 sets.
Brazil grabbed the first two sets, 25-19, 25-20, before Russia stormed back. In an epic 34-minute third set, Russia came out on top, 29-27. They then captured the third set 25-22, before being able to dispatch Brazil in a 15-9 fifth set for a tiebreaker that sent their opponents packing in just 17 minutes.

The old Soviet Union was a powerhouse in Olympic volleyball when it first became an Olympic event, but this is the first gold medal for Russia in either men's or women's indoor volleyball........

Great showing all in all, slow start indeed

Russia won medals in the most kind of sports btw, of any competitor!

We did better than Beijing... can't be disappointed with that.

Russia’s gold medal count at the London Olympics has climbed to 24, which is one gold medal more than Team Russia scooped in Beijing.

Russia’s total London haul now consists of 82 medals – 24 gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze.

So we have:
1. 9 medals more on overall count
2. Resurrection of Gymnastics team
3. The best result ever in athletics (8 gold)
4. Gold in a team sport after 2000 men's handball win

We need talents in swimming, cycling and rowing

Just finished watching the replay of Men's Volley Ball Match. Best game I have ever seen!

Please tell me why the referee gave the point to Brazil in 1st matchball. The ball is clearly out

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/aug/13/alternative-olympic-medal-table-winner-russia

HA!

Two-time pole vault Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva will continue her sport career and prepare for her fifth Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

She said that she always wanted to end her career at the top of her achievements and to leave undefeated but the bronze medal at the London Olympics deprived her of this opportunity.

Yelena Isinbayeva won Olympic gold twice, in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008.

Vesti.ru

http://olimp-history.ru/

Russian cyclists snatch medals in NZ

Russian cyclists have snatched two golds and a bronze on the first day of the UCI Junior Track Cycling Worlds in New Zealand.

Lidia Pluzhnikova and Daria Shmeleva set a world record in the team sprint stopping the clock at 34, 155 sec.

Alexander Dubchenko, Vladislav Fedin and Alexander Sharapov took gold in the men’s team event while Alexei Sazanov, Dmitry Strakhov and Aydar Zakarin were the third in the pursuit race.

Fedorov: I Want CSKA Champion Dynasty

Legendary NHL forward Sergei Fedorov wants to turn Soviet hockey giant CSKA Moscow into a team capable of winning titles year-in, year-out in the KHL, he said Wednesday.
Fedorov retired at the end of last season after a career spanning 26 years, three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and 1,248 NHL games.
He was named CSKA general manager soon after last season ended and the team has since signed a raft of ex-NHL players including Alexander Radulov, Vladimir Zharkov and Janis Sprukts.
“Ultimately the goal is to become a championship team, not for one year or for two, but for many years to come,” he said on the IIHF website.
“What we are talking about here is total rebuilding, from scratch.”
CSKA won 32 Soviet titles, but has not won a championship since the Soviet Union collapsed, although the new owner, Russian state oil and gas company Rosneft, has set a target of returning the team to glory.
Progress will be gradual and the target is a top-five finish next season after coming 16th last campaign, Fedorov said.
“I think Rosneft, and also us, expects CSKA to be among the top five teams in the KHL. It will not be easy the first year, but it is our goal.”
“If we are among the top teams and we reach one or two rounds into the playoffs, it will be a very good result.”
Rosneft’s oil money has given CSKA greater freedom, but Fedorov wants to keep spending under control, he said.
“Certainly, our hands are not tied any more,” he said.
“Although Rosneft financially is a very solid company, we are committed to spending wisely and we are watching every ruble we spend so it goes to the right cause.”
The former coach of Russia’s junior national team, Valery Bragin, was installed in May as CSKA coach for next season, but Fedorov said he would also seek to impart some values of his own.
“Off-ice and on-ice discipline,” he said when asked what he would give the team. “Discipline always beats class.”
Entering its fifth season in the KHL, CSKA has yet to reach the conference finals after four seasons marred by financial instability and on-ice disappointments.

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120822/175367544.html

Russian junior cyclists grab gold and bronze in NZ

Russian cyclists have grabbed a gold and a bronze in the2012 UCI JuniorsTrack Cycling World Championships in Invercargill, New Zealand.

Daria Shmeleva stooped the clock at the record 34, 753 sec inwomen's 500m heat while Lidia Pluzhnikova came third.

Earlier, the girls snatched gold and set a new world record in the sprint event.

Russia is ranked second in the total medal count. Australia tops the chart.

Coach of Russian women’s volleyball team found hanged

Sergei Ovchinnikov, the coach of the Russian women’s volleyball team, was found hanged on Wednesday morning, the Croatian media reports.

The hotel staff found the body of the 43-year-old coach in his room on the fourth floor.

The tragedy occurred in the Croatian town of Porec where the women’s volleyball Dynamo club, headed by Ovchinnikov, was holding a training session.

Ovchinnikov’s family and friends believe that frustrating Olympic performance of the Russian women’s volleyball team who lost their quarterfinal match could be a reason behind his suicide.[i]

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_30/Coach-of-Russian-women-s-volleyball-team-found-hanged/

Spartak Seal Passage to Champions League Stage

Ten-man Spartak Moscow progressed to the Champions League group stage on Wednesday after holding on for a dramatic 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce, earning an aggregate 3-2 win in their playoff.

An early strike by Brazilian striker Ari was cancelled out by a late header from Fenerbahce's Moussa Sow.

Spartak held on for the last ten minutes with 10 men after Dutch midfielder Demy de Zeeuw was dismissed for a second bookable offense.

Visiting goalkeeper Andriy Dikan saved Spartak on several occasions in a second half that saw the Russians come under immense pressure from a physical Fenerbahce side egged on by a hostile crowd.

Spartak join Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg in Friday's group stage draw.

On a fiery night in Istanbul, Ari opened the scoring after just five minutes, stabbing home an Aiden McGeady cross to round off lightning-fast counterattack from the visitors.

With Fenerbahce needing three goals to overturn the deficit, the pace of the match turned frantic very early on.

That played into the hands of Spartak, whose coach Unai Emery made three changes to the side that won the home leg to field a more defensive lineup.

Further trouble followed for Aykut Kocaman's side when winger Milos Krasic was stretchered off after 14 minutes after pulling up with an apparent hamstring problem.

Miroslav Stoch came on in his place but the Russians soaked up much of the first-half pressure without fuss, restricting the home side to a few pots shots from distance.

Stoch scythed a shot over on 22 minutes, with Dirk Kuyt doing the same on 35.

The Turkish side began to panic on the ball, unable to put together a single meaningful attack, and were further let down by poor discipline as they rushed into over-zealous tackles to concede unnecessary free kicks.

Defender Egemen Korkmaz came closest for Fenerbahce in first-half stoppage time, powering a header just wide.

Fenerbahce came out attacking in the second half, as exemplified by left wingback Hasan Ali Kaldırım, whose fierce low drive was parried by Andriy Dikan in the Spartak goal.

Dikan was at full stretch moments later to tip a rasping left-foot strike by Mehmet Topal onto the crossbar and high into the night sky.

Spartak gave as good as they got, with Czech defender Marek Suchy showing remarkable poise inside the opponents' area to control a high ball and lash it against the post.

But the hosts turned the screw and Spartak's defense began to creak.

Dikan made a double save from Topal and then Stoch, before the impressive Mehmet Topuz clattered the crossbar with a header from a corner.

When the 35-year-old Ukrainian made an improbably quick-reflex low save, it seemed only a matter of time before the goal would come.

It did so from the resulting corner, with Senegalese forward Moussa Sow redirecting Topuz' header past Dikan from close range.

Unai Emery tried to provide his side a fresh outlet by bringing on target man Artem Dzyuba in place of the exhausted Emmanuel Emenike.

His opposite number Aykut Kocaman's did the same for his midfield, substituting Topuz for Brazilian Cristian Baroni.

Spartak's task became all the more difficult ten minutes from time de Zeeuw was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Topal and dismissed.

The Turkish side laid siege to the Spartak goal, with the visitors keeping all nine outfield players inside their own third.

Dikan came to Spartak's rescue yet again on 85 minutes, diving at the feet of goalscorer Sow to block a close-range effort at the back post.

The Russians stuck it out through six nail-biting, however, to seal passage into the group stage.

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120830/175509080.html

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_05/2018-World-Cup-host-cities-to-be-announced-on-September-29/

2018 World Cup host cities to be announced on September 29

A list of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be announced on September 29, the press service for the Russia-2018 Organizing Committee reported on Wednesday.

A total of 12 cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi, are expected to enter the list.

Russia won the 2018 World Cup bid in December 2010.

Only the World Cup cities, I wonder how much consideration was given to Vladivostok.
I suppose some people say that logistically it would be difficult, but I dont really see it.

It would also mean the 1st WC indisputably held in 2 different continents.(I know its debateable whether Sochi and Yekaterinburg are Europe or Asia.

The other argument is that it would be good to have Vladivostok as Russia's "window on the East". Just as St Pburg was built as the "window on Europe".

FIFA to Announce 2018 World Cup Host Cities Live

The choice of host cities for the 2018 World Cup will be announced next week during a live broadcast on Channel One in Russia, the organizing committee said Friday.

The announcement ceremony will be opened by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, feature FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke as well as variety of Russian athletes, football stars and celebrities.

The broadcast will start on Saturday, September 29 at 21:20 Moscow time (17:20GMT).

There are 13 cities bidding to stage World Cup matches, and it is expected that 11 cities and 12 stadiums will make it to the final list.

Moscow is guaranteed the final at the iconic Luzhniki Stadium, with proposed new arenas for Dynamo and Spartak hoping to share the capital's World Cup fixtures.

St. Petersburg is likely to be given a semifinal at Zenit's new stadium, which should be completed by 2014.

Two other dead-certs are Sochi, which will use the Fisht Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Games as well as World Cup matches; and Kazan, which will have the infrastructure in place by next year, when it hosts the University Games.

Last week, Mutko warned the cities of Saransk, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad and Rostov-on-Don had "several problems" that may kill their bid.

Russia was awarded the World Cup in December 2010, beating a solo bid from England and joint efforts from Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium.

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120921/176138488.html

https://www.facebook.com/SaintPetersburg2024

Would be interesting to see a St P Olympic bid being successful.

I wonder what the IOC would think. There are some good competitors. But if Russia really wants it, I'd say nothing that can't be beaten.

I think Paris, LA, Dallas and Toronto would also be good bids.
Looking at 2028, the rivals look at bit weaker, maybe Moscow can get that if St fails in 2024.

One think St P 2024 would do is indisputably reestablish it as a world city of the utmost importance. But the question remains, should Moscow bid instead?

My view is St P 2024,then Moscow bids 2028 if it fails.

http://sportreestr.ru/content/news/detail.php?SECTION_ID=71&ELEMENT_ID=11317

Funding for sport in the Arkhangelsk region are planning to triple 28/09/2012

Arkhangelsk regional government has made changes to the regional target program "Sport White Sea (2011-2014)." Its funding from the regional budget will increase from 75 million in the year to 209 million in 2013, as reported in the press service of the regional government.

It must be recalled that the program "Sport White Sea" which is designed for four years, was adopted in 2010, and in 2013 the regional budget was planned only 20 million rubles. This amount does not actually give a guarantee of all obligations of the program. This, in turn, would deprive athletes of Pomerania from traveling to the Russian Championship, to acquire a quality sports equipment and equipment. Municipalities would be left without support during public events and is unlikely to have the opportunity to declare their representatives to participate in the regional multi-sport event. Necessary repairs to the sports facilities would not have been taken in respect of shortage of appropriated funds.

Realizing that sports complex solves many of the social issues in the region, highlighting the development of sport and physical culture in Pomerania, the construction of new sports facilities and reconstruction of facilities, the need to support municipalities, Regional Ministry for Youth and Sport launched an initiative to increase funding for the program "Sport White Sea" . Thus, the implementation of its activities in the following year prompted more of an additional 189 million rubles from the regional budget. And in 2014, decided to send an additional 200 million. For all four years will be allocated to the program over 1 billion 146 million rubles (about 475 million of federal money, 567 million of the 104 million regional and local budgets). Recall was originally a four-year program to support and develop sports in Pomorie in a planned 291 million rubles.

"Together with the Ministry of Construction and Regional Housing, we have done a great job of raising the federal funds - said Elena Dotsenko, Minister of Youth and Sports. - In particular, a number of our projects will receive support from the federal and regional budgets, including sports and health center in the stadium "Trud".

As the minister said, the funds under the program "Sport White Sea" in 2013, will also for the construction and reconstruction of other sports facilities in a number of municipalities. Already this year, is scheduled commissioning of sports and recreation center in the village Severoonezhsk Plesetsk District. By 2013, it will complete construction of a sports center with a game room and a pool in Archangel, built playground at school number 7 in Kotlas. In 2014, plans to build ski and biathlon center in the village of robin Ustyansky district.

Increased funding will allow for increased maintenance in the field of sports facilities, equip them with the necessary equipment and sufficient equipment. Also, the money will be used to ensure the athletes out of the region at the national and international competitions, the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic relays lights in the Arkhangelsk region, training of specialists in physical culture, regional competitions, sports days and of sports and sporting events, the festival of martial arts, " White Sea Games "," Summer Sports "," White Sea rhythms, "marathon" Gandvik "Solovki Regatta and others.

"We all know that 2013 - the year of the Universiade in Kazan, the 2014-th - Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi. 2016 - Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Necessary to prepare the reserve in sport - said Elena Dotsenko . - Look how much we have gold medals in this year's "Gold" at the Paralympic Games in London took Svetlana Sergeeva, athlete-coach sports training center "Pomerania". Kosintseva sisters brought victory with the World Chess Olympiad. This year our athletes Pomorie brought more than 900 medals, this is a huge potential: If a program were in the form in which it was adopted the previous leadership of the region, we could advance to give up important results in sports for our area in the coming years ", reports IA REGNUM.