Russia Sports News:

2015 World Aquatics Championships opening ceremony kicks off in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the Tatneft-Arena stadium in the Russian city of Kazan for the opening ceremony

KAZAN, July 24 /TASS/. The opening ceremony of the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships has kicked off at the Tatneft Arena’s ice palace in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan.

Putin says he would love to try his hand at water polo

It is the first time that Russia is hosting the World Aquatics Championships, which has assembled 2,400 athletes from 190 countries this year. They will compete for 75 sets of medals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the Tatneft-Arena stadium in the Russian city of Kazan for the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony is taking place in a swimming pool for the first time in the tournament’s history. The palace’s sport arena has been redesigned specially for the ceremony, which is going to last for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

According to the script writers, the show is supposed to disclose one of the numerous meanings of the word "water" - as a source and the beginning of something.

Natalya Ishchenko, the three times Olympic champion in synchronized swimming, will carry the Russian flag. Swimmer Yana Martynova will take an oath on behalf of the athletes, while Russia’s swimming Coach Alexei Aktayev, who will also work as a judge at this tournament, will swear an oath of fair judgement on behalf of all judges.

The action will take place in cascade of swimming pools from five to three meters deep. About 200 circus performers, ballet dancers and professional athletes will participate in the show, which will run daily for the next eight days from July 26 to August 2.

More than 50,000 people will be able to watch the opening ceremony live.

The championships will last till August 9.

2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw kicks off in Russia’s St. Petersburg

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over four years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands
© Mikhail Metsel/TASS

STRELNA, July 25. /TASS/. The traditional Preliminary Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in 11 different cities across Russia in less than three years, kicked off with an astounding show in the country’s second largest city of St. Petersburg on Saturday night.

"I am glad to welcome you all here," Russian President Vladimir Putin said opening the ceremony of the draw along with FIFA President Sepp Blatter. "Today is the historic day for the sport number one in the world and it is the sport of football."

"Football is one of the most popular sports in Russia and all over the world," Putin said. "Our country has long and strong traditions of football. I am sure that we will be growing new talents. Russia’s organization of the 2018 FIFA World Cup will help to further popularize the sport of football in Russia."

"We will do everything to provide security at the championship," the Russian president said. "I would like to reiterate that all obligations undertaken by Russia will be implemented. I wish the good luck at the Preliminary Draw."

Taking the floor of the opening ceremony FIFA chief Blatter said "I would like to thank President Putin."

"Dear friends in football it is great pleasure to be here in St. Petersburg," the 79-year-old head of the global governing body of football said.

"Today is an important day. Russia will be fantastical. We are looking forward for the exiting evening, for the exciting Draw and exciting Russia," Blatter said.

Top-model and well-known philanthropist from Russia Natalia Vodianova and Russia’s TV presenter Dmitry Shepelev are running the show of the Preliminary Draw.

Following the opening words from Putin and Blatter the show proceeded with the spectacular vocal and dance show performed by the Terem-Quartet artistic group.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke joined the duo of Vodianova and Shepelev to take charge of the actual Draw procedure to determine the pairs of the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition is underway at the historic Konstantinovsky Palace, a stronghold of Russia’s rich culture located on the Gulf of Finland’s stunning shoreline. It used to serve in the 18th century as one of the residences of Russia’s imperial family.

A total of over 200 nations have signed up for the Preliminary Draw, which is the first major kick-off event ahead of the global tournament itself.

The World Cup’s Preliminary Draw, which was first broadcast on television in 1971, underwent a remarkable evolutionary process throughout the years and is seen as the most to important cultural showpiece and the kick-start event for the championship itself.

In different decades and years this cultural showpiece was staged on numerous prominent global venues, including Louvre Museum in Paris, Madison Square Garden in New York and many others, and, according to FIFA official website, Russia’s St. Petersburg will continue "the tradition of memorable draws."

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over four years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.

Russian Driver Wins Second Place in Formula One, For First Time Ever

http://sputniknews.com/sport/20150726/1025071673.html

Russian Formula One driver Daniil Kvyat scored an unexpected second place at a race in Hungary, the first such result for a Russian driver, despite numerous difficulties from the beginning.

Russian Formula One driver Daniil Kvyat, a member of team Red Bull, won second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, the best Formula 1 result in history for a Russian driver.

Kvyat placed second after German driver Sebastian Vettel. The result was also Kvyat's first time on the podium of the top three drivers in the race.

The result was unexpected for Kvyat, who placed eighth in qualification and had difficulty keeping pace almost from the start.

"To be honest, I thought after the first turn that the race was over for me, because I put a very big scrape on one of the tires. And because of this I could hardly keep the vehicle on the track. But then the team told me to keep attacking," Kvyat said.

Kvyat, together with the other winning drivers, dedicated his victory to Jules Bianchi, who passed away on June 17 after spending nine months in a coma following a tragic accident at a Formula One racing event in October 2014.

FIBA suspends Russia from international basketball tournaments

Russia’s participation in the European Championships and the 2016 Olympics is under question

MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has suspended Russian national basketball teams from all international competitions, Sergey Chernov, one of Russia’s FIBA executives, told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Russian Basketball Federation [RBF] received a letter," Chernov, who is also the president emeritus of the RFB, said in an interview with TASS. "The letter shows that the RFB is currently not listed among the FIBA [members]."

"We will be now thinking how to resolve this situation," Chernov said. "Let the Sports Ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee [ROC] think about it. [Russia’s] participation in the European Championships and [2016] Olympics are under question."

Chernov added that FIBA’s final decision would be announced at a session of the federation’s Central Board, scheduled to convene on August 7-9 in Tokyo, Japan.

According to earlier reports, the Central Board of FIBA included in its agenda an issue concerning the reelection of the president and members of the Executive Committee of the Russian Basketball Federation.

The Russian men’s national basketball team was already in preparations for the European Basketball Championship, which is also the qualifying tournament of the European teams for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil.

Basketball?

Who the f even cares?

Russia wins 2 golds at Day 6 of FINA World Championships, but still 2nd after China

The leaders of the medals standings, China, are currently boasting six gold, six silver and three bronze medals, while Russia packs six gold, two silver and one bronze medals

KAZAN, July 31. /TASS/. Russia’s national team maintained its 2nd place in the overall medals standings as the Day 6 of the 2015 FINA World Championships wrapped up in the country’s Republic of Tatarstan on Thursday night.

The hosting team, however, won two golds on Thursday and leveled the tally of the championship’s gold medals with current leaders China, who keep Russia behind the top spot in the overall medals standings having won more silver and bronze.

The leaders of the medals standings, China, are currently boasting six gold, six silver and three bronze medals, while Russia packs six gold, two silver and one bronze medals.

With more than a week remaining of the FINA World Championship, hosted by Russia for the first time ever, the Top 10 in the overall medals standings is as follows (as of July 30):

1. China - 15 medals (6 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze)

2. Russia - 9 medals (6-2-1)

3. The United States - 5 medals (3-1-1)

4. Germany - 3 medals (1-1-1)

5. Italy - 4 medals (1-0-3)

6. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - 2 medals (1-0-1)

6. Great Britain - 2 medals (1-0-1)

7. France - 1 gold

7. South Africa - 1 gold

8. Canada - 3 silver

8. The Netherlands - 3 silver

9. Ukraine - 3 medals (0-2-1)

10. Brazil, Greece and Spain (each team won 1 silver and 1 bronze medals after the Day 6 of the championship).

The 2015 FINA (the International Swimming Federation) World Championships is underway in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, between July 24 and August 9 bringing together some 2,400 athletes from over 190 countries.

Andrey Kirilenko elected president of Russian Basketball Federation

A total of 215 votes were cast in favor of Kirilenko



MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Russia’s famous ex-basketballer Andrey Kirilenko, a sole candidate for the post of the president of the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF), was elected unanimously on Tuesday to take charge of the national governing body of basketball.

A total of 215 votes were cast in favor of Kirilenko, nobody abstained or voted against and one voting ballot was declared invalid.

"I thank you all for your trust," Kirilenko said after the voting results were announced. "I hope that together will manage to return the surrendered positions of the Russian basketball."

The RBF’s elections of the president and members of the Executive Committee were held on Tuesday within the frames of the federation’s extraordinary conference. Before Tuesday, Kirilenko and Dmitry Domani, the general manager of the national men’s basketball team, were the only two candidates to take the helm of the federation.

The RBF, however, announced on its website on Tuesday morning that Domani, who was the last-minute nominee proposed by a number of Russian regional basketball federations, decided to withdraw his candidacy.

Kirilenko, 34, called it a day in his basketball career earlier in the year and is currently the sole candidate to take the helm of the RBF, which is living through an uneasy period. The federation was struck hard earlier this year, when women’s national team, the 2003, 2007 and 2011 European Champions, failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.

The RBF’s extraordinary election conference, which started at 12:00 p.m. Moscow time (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday, is also expected to put an end to the long-lasting conflict in the Russian basketball, which prompted the RBF’s suspension.

Late last month the RFB has been suspended by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which cited the lack of transparency in the Russian federation’s management as the reason for its decision. All Russian national basketball teams were suspended from international competitions as a result of the suspension.

However, at a session of the FIBA’s Central Board, which convened on August 8-9 in Tokyo, Japan, it was decided to all the Russian national teams were to play at the international level championships, but the suspension of the RFB remained in force.

FIBA’s suspension of the RFB put in extreme jeopardy Russian national men team’s participation in the 2015 FIBA European Championship, to be held between September 5 and 20.

This year’s championship is of a particular value, since it will not only decide the title of the best European basketball team, but also serves as a qualifying tournament for the national teams’ spots at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.

Earlier in the month, a Moscow Court ruled to oblige the RBF to hold a conference for electing the organization’s new president and executive committee.

Commenting on the RBF suspension, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said in mid-August that "As soon as we restore governance in basketball, we’ll address the issue of the lift of sanctions.".

Russia wins gold in 110m hurdles at 2015 IAAF World Championships

Sergey Shubenkov finished the distance in 12.98 seconds setting a new national record



BEIJING, August 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov brought the team’s first gold of the 2015 IAAF World Championships, held in China’s Beijing on August 22-30, after winning on Friday in men’s 110 meters hurdles.

The 24-year-old Russian runner finished the distance in 12.98 seconds setting a new national record. Shubenkov, the 2013 World Championship’s bronze medalist, also became the first Russian to win the world championship’s gold in 110 meters hurdles.

The silver went to Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment and the bronze to Aries Merritt of the United States, who finished the distance in 13.03 and 13.04 seconds respectively.

Also gold and bronze in Womens High Jump:


http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/beijing-2015-mens-high-jump-final

All in all, Russia is not nearly as good as in Moscow 2013, but that can be understood since that was on home turf:

http://www.iaaf.org/Competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/medaltable

Both Kenya and Jamaica have great games, and the UK also have a good results. The US are doing as expected, but Germany is not doing good.

the Russian women play outstanding volleyball in upsetting the No. 1 rank American volleyball team at the FIVB World Cup

Russian team led by new coach defeats Sweden 1-0 in Euro Cup 2016 qualifier



MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. Russia’s national football team defeated Sweden 1-0 qualifying for the Euro Cup 2016 in Group G at Moscow’s Otkrytie-Arena on Saturday.

Forward Artyom Dzyuba netted the only goal on the 38th minute in a match first for the Russian squad’s head coach, Leonid Slutsky.

Winning a third victory in the qualifiers, Russia is ranked third in its qualifying Group G with just one point below second ranked Sweden, while the Austrian team tops the table (16 points in six matches). Sweden is second with 12 points scored in seven matches, Russia has scored eleven points in seven matches, Montenegro - five in six matches and Moldova - two points in six matches.

Along with this, Austria is to play Moldova and Montenegro vs Liechtenstein in Saturday’s Group G qualifiers.

Later on, Russia and Liechtenstein are to clash on September 8.

Incident of wrong Russian anthem, in Germany. But unlike the last incidents, the audiences expressed emotional support for the Russian champion by singing the current anthem both in Russian and German.

http://ria.ru/sport/20150908/1238962903.html

higurashihougi wrote:Incident of wrong Russian anthem, in Germany. But unlike the last incidents, the audiences expressed emotional support for the Russian champion by singing the current anthem both in Russian and German.

http://ria.ru/sport/20150908/1238962903.html

Don't worry soon the entire world will not forget russian anthem and according to west any second they will need to learn the russian anthem because they are coming anyway.

Russia in talks on extending contract for F1 Sochi GP races beyond 2020

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak also says there are talks underway of switching the F1 race in Sochi from daytime to nighttime

NOVO-OGARYOVO, September 30. /TASS/. Russia is currently in talks with FIA on the extension of its contract for holding Formula One Grand Prix in the country’s southern city of Sochi after the year 2020, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said on Wednesday.

Speaking on Wednesday at a session of ministers with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kozak also said that there were also talks underway of switching the F1 race in Sochi from daytime to nighttime.

"We are currently holding talks on the extension of the contract, which expires in 2020, as well as on the change of the race from daytime to nighttime, since such race is more popular," Kozak said. "There is some progress and also great interest on behalf of our Russian investors."

When heard about the proposal of holding the race at nighttime, Putin said, "Night racing? You will not be able to see a thing."

"On the contrary, they will be more beautiful," Kozak said replying to the president’s words and added that F1 GP races in Abu Dhabi and Singapore were always held in nighttime.

The 2015 F1 season kicked off with the Australian Grand Prix on March 15, while Russia’s GP is scheduled for October 11 - the 17th out of 21 GPs on this year’s racing calendar.

Over 166,000 people, including at least 500 high-ranking guests from Russia and abroad, visited Sochi between October 10 and 12 last year for Russia’s first-ever Formula One Grand Prix.

Live television coverage of the race, provided by Russia’s Rossiya-2 channel, gathered over 3.4 million people across Russia, three times as many compared with the figure of Russian viewers watching other F1 Grand Prix races on average. The winner of Russia’s Sochi race, Lewis Hamilton, said it was the best F1 racing of the year.

The contract to include Russia in the calendar of F1 racing for the 2014-2020 period was signed in 2010 in Sochi by then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone. In December 2013, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) officially announced the calendar for 2014 Formula One races and the Grand Prix in Sochi was scheduled for October 12 as the 16th of 19 F1 Grand Prix races that year.

In its debut operational season, Sochi Autodrom, recently also named ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’, hosted a number of important international, national and regional events.

Late last year, Sochi Autodrom was awarded the trophy of Formula One’s best racing track for 2014. The 2014 Race Promoters' Trophy was awarded at the annual FIA Gala ceremony in Doha, Qatar, presented to Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak by Formula One chief executive Ecclestone.

The Race Promoters' Trophy is a rotating award, engraved with the names of other top F1 tracks dating from 1975. The trophy will remain in Sochi throughout 2015 until the next track is announced at the end of the next season.

Russia to cut budget for 2016 IIHF World Championship organization by 30%

The Sports Ministry initially requested the sum of 300 million rubles to finance the tournament, but later it was optimized by 30% down to 210 million rubles

MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. Russian organizers of the 2016 IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship announced on Thursday they decided to cut the budget, allocated for the annual global tournament, by 30% down from the initial sum of 300 million to 210 million rubles (from $4.7 million to $3.3 million).

The matches of the 2016 IIHF World Championship are scheduled to be held in the country’s capital of Moscow and in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg between May 6 and 22.

"The Sports Ministry initially requested the sum of 300 million rubles to finance the tournament," Yulia Lenda, in charge of the Sports Ministry’s department on the optimization of the budget costs, said. "The Finance Ministry, however, asked to optimize the requested sum."

"We have optimized it by 30% down to 210 million rubles, but the money was not allocated as of yet," she added.

"It is beyond any doubts that we will organize the world championship, but we will be forced to cut on our unified [national] calendar plans, particularly in the run-up to Rio [de Janeiro]," Lenda said. "We will have to touch at the raw."

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko pledged in May to organize the 2016 IIHF World Championship at the highest possible level.

"Russia is highly respected by the IIHF," Mutko said in May during this year’s championship, hosted by the Czech Republic. "Everyone in the organization is confident that Russia will hold the world championship at the highest possible level."

Russia handed over its champion’s title at this year’s world championship in the Czech Republic to Canada after the crushing 1-6 defeat in the final match, which set the new attendance world record of over 741,600 spectators.

The 2010 and 2014 Olympic Champions Canada were indeed hungry for the world champion’s title, which they last held in 2007, and barraged into the final match against the reigning world champions Russia in a crushing winning spree boasting a record of 60-15 (goals scored and goals missed).

On the whole, the Canadians weighty 6-1 win is also proved by the statistics, which shows that the reigning Olympic champions outshot the Russian squad in the final match by the whopping 37-12 margin.

Russian squad’s Head Coach Oleg Znarok, who led the team to the world championship’s title last year in Belarus, praised his team’s game during the final match in Prague saying the players kept fighting team Canada until the very last minute.

An appallingly smear campaign against Russia on British TV now re claims of athletics doping.
Head of the "independent commission" was guess what? AMERICAN.

And smarmy, English upper class homosexual Sebastian Coe is now head of the IAAF.

British athletics was a joke at the best of times. Its medal winners were either upper class pricks or Africans.

Ofcourse "British" golden boy, or rather drug cheat Asian, Mo Farah gets his arse constantly kissed.
Cold War 2 is well and truly underway...

Firebird wrote:An appallingly smear campaign against Russia on British TV now re claims of athletics doping.
Head of the "independent commission" was guess what? AMERICAN.

And smarmy, English upper class homosexual Sebastian Coe is now head of the IAAF.

British athletics was a joke at the best of times. Its medal winners were either upper class pricks or Africans.

Ofcourse "British" golden boy, or rather drug cheat Asian, Mo Farah gets his arse constantly kissed.
Cold War 2 is well and truly underway...

Sorry but this looks like it could be the real thing. BTW Coe was a pretty good runner in his day. Having just been elected head of the IAAF a huge barrel of shit has just been dumped on his head. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/11982874/Lord-Coe-admits-athletics-faces-long-way-back-from-worst-corruption-scandal-to-engulf-the-sport.html

It all started in the summer when IAF blood test results appeared in the UK/German press showing inconsistencies (unnatural levels of I think white blood cells) in hundreds if not thousands of athlete's tests over many years. There was no denial that the printed results were incorrect, just that they should not have been published. See
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/aug/02/athletics-facing-new-doping-crisis

OK, it currently looks like someone is trying to set Russia up as a fall guy but WADA picked Russia as the start of their investigation (par for the course as in many other areas of life) to divert attention but the whole episode stinks. It makes Blatter and FIFA look like amateurs. At least they only rigged the location of competitions, it looks like the IAF also rigged results, blackmailed competitors etc.

There is a thread running at ZH on it, although it is a US site they really have a go at the US hypocrisy and that it is just two Canadians and a German that are demanding Russia's athletes be bared from the 2016 Olympics, note that that's not even an IAF event! Some good photo examples of US best of breed like Armstrong etc.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-09/commission-urges-banning-russian-track-and-field-athletes-2016-olympics

JohninMK wrote:

Firebird wrote:An appallingly smear campaign against Russia on British TV now re claims of athletics doping.
Head of the "independent commission" was guess what? AMERICAN.

And smarmy, English upper class homosexual Sebastian Coe is now head of the IAAF.

British athletics was a joke at the best of times. Its medal winners were either upper class pricks or Africans.

Ofcourse "British" golden boy, or rather drug cheat Asian, Mo Farah gets his arse constantly kissed.
Cold War 2 is well and truly underway...

Sorry but this looks like it could be the real thing. BTW Coe was a pretty good runner in his day. Having just been elected head of the IAAF a huge barrel of shit has just been dumped on his head. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/11982874/Lord-Coe-admits-athletics-faces-long-way-back-from-worst-corruption-scandal-to-engulf-the-sport.html

It all started in the summer when IAF blood test results appeared in the UK/German press showing inconsistencies (unnatural levels of I think white blood cells) in hundreds if not thousands of athlete's tests over many years. There was no denial that the printed results were incorrect, just that they should not have been published. See
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/aug/02/athletics-facing-new-doping-crisis

OK, it currently looks like someone is trying to set Russia up as a fall guy but WADA picked Russia as the start of their investigation (par for the course as in many other areas of life) to divert attention but the whole episode stinks. It makes Blatter and FIFA look like amateurs. At least they only rigged the location of competitions, it looks like the IAF also rigged results, blackmailed competitors etc.

There is a thread running at ZH on it, although it is a US site they really have a go at the US hypocrisy and that it is just two Canadians and a German that are demanding Russia's athletes be bared from the 2016 Olympics, note that that's not even an IAF event! Some good photo examples of US best of breed like Armstrong etc.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-09/commission-urges-banning-russian-track-and-field-athletes-2016-olympics

What the British media WON|T admit is that Dick the Prick Pound (American!) is adding his own crap which doesn't have any evidence, and generally it isnt even in the crappy report.

All major countries cheat. Mo Farah is most likely under the influence of drugs. Vast numbers of Americans too. But the report paints it out that Vladmir Putin is a baby eating demon that personally forces drugs down the throats of every single Russian. Its utter bullshit.

And Coe is a cunt, a Conservative, smarmy silverspoon prick. He's America's little bitch boy.