Sports News

In Sports News this Monday: Own goals help Slavia and Plzeň win; Sparta’s coaches sacked after defeat to Boleslav proves last straw; disappointment for Samková at snowboard cross Worlds in Spain; and Plíšková advances in Indian Wells.

Slavia remain in front after late OG from Teplice

Slavia Prague - Teplice, photo: CTK

Slavia Prague remain on top of the Czech soccer league after the weekend’s action. The leaders had Teplice’s David Vaněček to thank for keeping them in first place after his own goal in the dying minutes left that game at 2:1 to Slavia. Viktoria Plzeň, four points behind but with a game in hand, beat Liberec 1:0, again through an own goal. In this case, however, there were suggestions that an offside Plzeň player interfered with play.

Sparta sack manager after defeat to Mladá Boleslav proves final straw

Douglas Da Silva, photo: CTK

Meanwhile, third-placed Sparta Prague saw the title stretch even further from their grasp with a 1:0 away defeat at Mladá Boleslav. The result was something of an upset: Boleslav hadn’t won a game in nine attempts and had last claimed three points in mid-October.

The only goal of the match came from the head of Brazilian defender Douglas and he won praise from Boleslav’s Tomáš Přikryl, himself a former Sparta player.

“He’s capable of doing that. All you need to do is set him up and he received a fantastic ball. It always feels good to beat Sparta – everybody wants to do it and we managed after a series of poor results. So super!”

Sparta are now nine points from top spot with 10 rounds to go after a poor run of form that saw two defeats in four league games since the winter break and an exit from the Europa League. That proved too much for the club’s management to take and on Monday Sparta fired their coaches Tomáš Požár and David Holoubek. The assistants Zdeněk Svoboda and Stanislav Hejkal will take over on a part-time basis.

Disappointment for Samková at snowboard cross Worlds

Eva Samková, archive photo: Czech Television

The Czech snowboard cross star Eva Samková was left disappointed at the World Championships at Sierra Nevada in Spain. The Olympic champion finished 12th in Sunday’s women’s individual final for the worst result in the competition in her career. Czech fans will now be hoping that Ester Ledecká will confirm her ranking as one of the favourites in the parallel giant slalom on Tuesday.

Plíšková reaches fourth round in Indian Wells

World tennis number three Karolína Plíšková has reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after overcoming Irina-Camelia Bugu of Romania 6-4 7-6 on Sunday. Last season the Czech player got to the semi-finals of a competition dubbed the “fifth Grand Slam”.