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Contrary to popular belief, the legendary 15th century Czech military leader Jan Žižka allegedly fought alongside the Teutonic Knights against the Poles in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, a representative of the order told the daily Lidové noviny on Thursday. Žižka, who later became the leader of the Hussite army fighting against the Catholics in the Czech lands and beyond, was hired as a mercenary, the order’s representative said, citing archive documents. Most Czech historians believe that Jan Žižka did take part in the battle, but on the side of the Poles against the German knights; some point out however that Bohemian and Moravian mercenaries fought on both sides.

Roman Šebrle, who holds the word-record in the decathlon, will not compete in the 2010 European Athletics Championships to be held in Barcelona later this month. Due to injuries which have been plaguing him throughout the season, the decathlete has decided against asking the Czech Athletic Federation for a wild card. However, he will still be attending the championships, since he is preparing to apply for membership in the athlete’s commission of the European Athletic Association. Šebrle, who is 35, said he does not intend to retire in the near future.

The head of the TOP 09 party, Karel Schwarzenberg, has confirmed speculation that a former governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdeněk Tůma, will be their top candidate on the Prague ballot in local elections to take place in October. Mr Schwarzenberg said on Wednesday that while it had not been easy to convince Mr Tůma to run for the post, he had eventually agreed to become the party’s candidate for Prague mayor. Zdeněk Tůma headed the Czech National Bank for more than ten years before resigning in June. Before that he served as an advisor to the minister of industry and trade and as the executive director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The opposition Social Democrats are set to present their shadow cabinet on Wednesday. Social Democrats acting leader Bohuslav Sobotka said that it would be one of social responsibility. He said the party would aim at providing an assertive and rigorous opposition to the government coalition of fiscal responsibilty. Mr Sobotka added that the Social Democrats will try to push through reforms that distribute the tax burden more evenly across both higher and lower income earners. Other areas that the opposition cabinet is planning to engage in are anti-corruption measures and the pension reform. The Social Democrats came first in elections in May, but were unable to find coalition partners.