Sports News

Slavia draw first game in final phase of football league as Plzeň cut gap ahead of head-to-head; Dazza wins Prague Marathon in second fastest time while Salpeter sets women’s record; Muchová on the up after Prague Open final; and tennis coach Pavel Korda dies.

Plzeň reduce gap as football league final phase begins

Viktoria Plzeň - Jablonec, photo: ČTK/Miroslav Chaloupka

The final part of Czech football’s First League is underway, with the top, middle and bottom groups of six teams now facing each other in a round robin system.

And the new competition within a competition, known by the unwieldly name of the “superstructure”, didn’t start ideally at the weekend for Slavia Prague, who were first when the regular season ended after 30 rounds.

Slavia could only manage a 0:0 draw away at Slovan Liberec and saw their lead slip to only two points over Viktoria Plzeň.

The West Bohemians had been on the ropes against Jablonec on Sunday evening but turned that game around in the last 10 minutes to achieve a valuable 2:1 victory.

Plzeň manager Pavel Vrba conceded that his team had been fortunate.

“We have to admit that Jablonec were the better side. They had more chances. I think what decided the game was the fact that when the score was at 1:0 we were fortunate two or three times when Jablonec failed to score a second goal. That would have made it game over. Luckily in the latter phase of the match it worked out for us and we had enough players in the box. But we really were very lucky.”

The most closely watched game of the superstructure will see Slavia go head to head with Plzeň next Sunday evening, with that game taking place in the capital thanks to Slavia having finished top in the regular season.

Dazza wins Prague Marathon in second fastest time while Salpeter sets women’s record

Almahjoub Dazza, photo: ČTK/Michaela Říhová

This year’s Prague Marathon was won on Sunday by Almahjoub Dazza of Bahrain. He finished the race in two hours, five minutes and 58 seconds – the second fastest time in its history. The women’s race was won by Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel. She crossed the line after two hours, 19 minutes and 44 seconds to set both a course record and a personal best.

Muchová climbs world rankings after Prague Open final

Tennis’s Prague Open was won by Jil Teichmann of Switzerland. She overcame the Czech Republic’s Karolína Muchová, who had been a wild card, 7-6 3-6 6-4 in a wet and cold Prague on Saturday. Following the biggest success of Muchová’s career to date the 22-year-old has now shot up to 74th in the world rankings, her highest ever placing. Her compatriot Petra Kvitová remains world number two.

Coach of 1980 Davis Cup winning team Pavel Korda dies at 84

The retired Czech tennis coach Pavel Korda has died at the age of 84. He led Czechoslovakia to the country’s first triumph in the Davis Cup in 1980 and also coached one member of that team, Jan Kodeš, to three Grand Slam titles. Pavel Korda was also the uncle of Petr Korda.