Sports News
The top Czech women's tennis player, Denisa Chladkova, will be seeded for the first time in her career when she takes part in the Wimbledon tournament next week. She says, however, that being seeded is no great advantage. In football news, both Banik Ostrava and Prague's Bohemians have signed new managers while Sparta Prague's summer spending spree shows no signs of stopping. And the "Prague Pole" has made an unusual spectacle on the city's Wenceslas Square.
Chladkova gets first Grand Slam seeding at Wimbledon
The draw has been made for the world famous Wimbledon tennis tournament, which gets underway on Monday. Czech Jiri Novak, seeded 11th, faces the Peruvian player Luis Horna, while Radek Stepanek takes on Julien Boutter of France. In the women's singles two Czech players, Denisa Chladkova and Klara Koukalova, meet in the first round. Chladkova - currently the leading Czech women's player - is seeded 30th, the first time she has ever been seeded in a Grand Slam tournament. However, that's not something she regards as an advantage.
"It's a good thing in that you have less chance of coming up against a really good player at the beginning of the tournament. It gives you the chance of a relatively decent draw, but that's as far as the advantage goes. It's not as if anyone would be afraid to play a seeded player."
Ostrava and Bohemians sign new managers
After weeks of speculation, Banik Ostrava football club have found a new manager. Frantisek Komnacky, who has spent some years coaching in Slovakia, said he believes he can do the job at Ostrava even if - as is expected - they lose international defender Rene Bolf, and hotly-tipped young strikers Vaclav Sverkos and Michal Papadopulos. And the recently relegated Prague club Bohemians also have a new manager, Zdenek Hruska, who was a goalkeeper for the Kangaroos in the 1980s.
Sparta's summer spending spree continues
Prague Pole provides unusual spectacle on Wenceslas Square
Pedestrians on Prague's main thoroughfare, Wenceslas Square, were treated to an unusual spectacle on Wednesday afternoon: a pole-vaulting exhibition. The city centre Prague Pole competition, now in its ninth year, ended early due to a storm, meaning that there were two men's winners, Czech Adam Ptacek and Russia's Vladimir Stogaljov. The women's event was won by Jelena Isinbajevova, also of Russia.
