In Sports News this Monday: In football, Czechs lose to Ukraine in pre-qualification friendly while action continues in Gambrinus Liga; in tennis, Olympic silver medallists Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká win doubles title at Cincinnati; and in basketball, the Czech team is second in qualification for next year’s European championships.
Football: Czechs struggle to draw Ukraine in pre-Word Cup qualification friendly
Michal Bílek, photo: CTK
The Czech national football team took on Ukraine in Lviv on Wednesday, in a friendly ahead of World Cup 2013 qualification. Manager Michal Bílek had to do without the injured playmakers Tomáš Rosický and Jaroslav Plašil which was one of the reasons the Czechs spent much of the time playing defence, and only created a rare scoring opportunity after an hour’s play. The Ukrainians were much livelier and kept Czech goalie Petr Čech busy throughout the game. Besides the disappointing play, the worst news came in the second half when midfielder Václav Pilař was injured. Team manager Bílek had this to say:
“What I’m really sorry about in this match is that Václav Pilař got injured. It looks like he won’t be fit to play against Denmark because he sprained his knee. We will have yet to wait for a precise diagnosis but it does not look good. That’s the major setback of the game.”
Medical tests confirmed the 23-year-old Wolfsburg and Czech international will not only miss the qualifier against Denmark but will have to undergo an operation and will be out of the game for some six months. The Czechs kick off the World Cup qualification in Copenhagen in three weeks’ time before taking on Malta in Plzeň in October.
Sparta, Jablonec on top after four rounds of Gambrinus liga
Sparta Prague - České Budějovice, photo: CTK
After the brief international break, action continued in the Czech top football division. Last season’s runners-up Sparta Prague beat České Budějovice 3:1 in the fourth round of the Gambrinus liga, and remains first with 10 points. Jablonec beat newcomers Brno on their turf 4:1, and is ranked second, followed by Plzeň in third place who beat Ostrava 3:1. FC Slovácko remains last with a single point.
Tennis: Hlaváčková, Hradecká win WTA doubles title in Cincinnati…
Andrea Hlaváčková, photo: CTK
Moving on to tennis now where the silver Olympic medallists and Wimbledon runners-up Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká won the doubles title at the WTA event in Cincinnati on Sunday when they beat the eight-seeded Slovenian-Chinese pair Katarina Srebotnik, Zheng Jie 6:1, 6:3. The win, made easier by the fact that Olympic champions, the Williams sisters, did not take part in the tournament, is the Czech pair’s third title of the season.
…while Petra Kvitová is knocked out of the event’s semifinals
Petra Kvitová, photo: CTK
World’s number five Petra Kvitová failed to follow up on her recent triumph in Montreal. At the WTA event in Cincinnati, Kvitová eased her way into the semis, beating Germany’s Mona Barthel and Anastasia Pavlychenkova of Russia along the way. But fourth-seed Kvitová failed to reach the finals when she lost to Angelique Kerber of Germany 6:1, 2:6, 6:4 in the semis on Saturday. After the game, the 22-year-old Czech said that she made too many errors to go on.
“From the beginning, I felt a little tired and it was quite difficult to go play at 10 PM. But anyway, I made a lot of mistakes and I knew that if I play my solid game and go for the volleys I could win but the problem was I made too many mistakes.”
In the men’s tournament, both Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek were knocked out in the third round when Berdych lost to Milos Raonic of Canada 6:4, 2:6, 6:2 while Štěpánek was defeated by Mardy Fish 6:3, 6:3.
Basketball: Czech lose to Italy in European qualifier
Czech Republic - Italy, photo: CTK
And finally, in basketball, the Czech men’s national team holds second spot in their qualification group of the 2013 European championships despite a defeat 53:63 by Italy on Saturday. Having beaten Belarus 73:65 in the opening game of the qualification, the Czechs were leading 19:16 after the first quarter of the game. But the Italians, strong favourites in the match, quickly prevailed and gave the Czechs little chance to hit back. The home team’s best scorer Jakub Houška noted the Czechs could not find a way of dealing with the Italian defence.
“They stepped up their aggressive defence and we lost too many balls. We couldn’t really surprise them as they kept playing the same way throughout the whole game. But unfortunately, they scored ten more points.”
After two games, the Czechs remain second in their group and will face both Belarus and Italy again as well as Portugal and Turkey.
