Paralympic Games in Syndey come to a close

Time for the sport now, and the past few days have been mainly good for the Czechs on the international sports scene.

There was definitely good news for teenager Daniela Bedanova, who claimed her first World Tennis Association title on Sunday, when she beat Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in the finals of the Slovak Indoor Championships. This is the first win for the Czech Republic in a WTA women's tournament this year, so this definitely a welcome break.

The Paralympic Games in Syndey came to a close on Sunday night, and the Czech team continued to win medals all the way up to the end of play. There was great news for spastic Roman Musil, who brought his medal collection at the games to five in Friday, by gaining a bronze in the five kilometre race on Friday. Mr. Musil already had three gold medals under his belt, in the javelin, shot put, and time trial race, and one silver in the discus event.

Table tennis player Ivan Karabec managed to fulfil at least half of his ambitions at the games, by getting gold in the singles event. Mr. Karabec, who has just turned twenty, wanted to win in both the singles and in the group tournament, but the Czech team succumbed to France and took the silver in this event. Still, as he is taking home a gold, it's certainly not all bad news for Mr. Karabec. And also on the table tennis front, paraplegic Michal Stefanu took the gold in his category, beating Korean Um Tae-Hiung 21:12, 21:18. Mr. Stefanu also helped the Czechs take the bronze in the group event of the same category.

Swimmer Jana Hoffmanova also had plenty to celebrate, as she added a gold medal to her medal collection after winning the fifty metres freestyle event in fifty-nine seconds, setting a new world record at the Paralympics. This will no doubt be a welcome addition to the two bronze medals that Miss Hoffmanova had won in the fifty metres backstroke and the one hundred metres freestyle.

By the end of the games, the Czech team had earned themselves a total of forty-two medals, placing them fifteenth in the overall medals table. Considering the size of the Czech Republic, this is a result that the team can be very proud of.

And finally, we'll take a quick look at the football results from the latest matches played in the Czech first division:

Bohemians 2 - Olomouc 2; Slavia Prague 0 - Jablonec 0; Drnovice 2 - Viktoria Zizkov 2; Synot 2 - Brno 1; Plzen 1 - Pribram 1; Ostrava 1 - Sparta Prague 5; Blsany 3 - Ceske Budejovice 1.

After their impressive 5 -1 victory over Olomouc at the weekend, Spart Prague still lead the league table with twenty-seven points, four points ahead of second-placed Liberec.

Click here for all the Gambrinus League results, plus the league table.