In this week’s Sports News: Czech cross country skier Lukáš Bauer draws closer to victory in this season’s World Cup; Radek Štěpánek loses in the final of tennis’s San Jose Open; Sparta Prague, wearing a special strip, trounce Viktoria Žižkov; and Chelsea keeper Petr Čech will, like Slavia Prague, be cursing his luck against Spurs.
Bauer edges closer to World Cup title with skiathlon win in Sweden
Lukáš Bauer, photo: CTK
The Czech cross country skier Lukáš Bauer is drawing ever closer to the Crystal Globe for overall winner of this season’s World Cup: Bauer’s win in the 30-kilometre skiathlon at Sweden’s Falun on Saturday saw the man from west Bohemia increase his lead to a practically unassailable 408 points. A happy Lukáš Bauer explained his successful tactics after the race.
Lukáš Bauer (centre), second placed Norway's Tord Asle Gjerdalen (left), and third placed Sweden's Anders Sodergren (right), photo: CTK
“My tactic was to not to go hell for leather, to remain in towards the front but not in the lead and save as much energy as I could for the skating section, which was very difficult. I concentrated on staying in a position from which I could attack and around 500 metres from the finish line I overtook Gjerdalen. It was a tough finish, but now I couldn’t be more satisfied.”
Lukáš Bauer again reached the podium on Sunday as part of the Czech relay team, who finished third in Sweden.
Štěpánek loses to Roddick in San Jose final
Radek Štěpánek was beaten in the final of tennis’s San Jose Open on Sunday by Andy Roddick. The top seed dispatched Štěpánek 6-4 7-5 after breaking the Czech’s serve in the very first game.
Sparta hammer Žižkov in Prague derby
Sparta Prague - Viktoria Žižkov, photo: CTK
Sparta Prague turned out in special blue shirts in a Czech football league game against Viktoria Žižkov on Sunday night. As part of a special anti-hooliganism campaign the words “Sparta fandí slušně” (roughly “Sparta fans behave decently”) appeared on all their players’ backs. And they might want to adopt the strip permanently – Sparta hammered Žižkov 6:1, with Miroslav Slepička scoring two and setting up two more.
Slavia Prague - Tottenham Hotspur, photo: CTK
That win puts Sparta just two points behind league leaders Slavia Prague, who play Brno away after the recording of this programme. Slavia put up a good fight against Tottenham Hotspur in London on Thursday, drawing 1:1 but losing 3:2 on aggregrate in the last-32 stage of the UEFA Cup.
Chelsea lose English League Cup final after unusual mistake by Čech
Czech international goalkeeper Petr Čech will also be imagining what might have been against Tottenham: his (uncharacteristic) mistake in Sunday’s final of England’s League Cup allowed Spurs to beat Chelsea 2:1.
