Sports News

In Sports News: mixed emotions for Czechs from the European Championship draw; Petr Čech equals Premier League no goal record; Liberec continue winning ways in extra liga; snow boarder Ester Ledecká starts new seson with a win; and Gabriela Soukalová stays top of biathlon table.

Pavel Vrba cautious over European Championship draw

Pavel Vrba, photo: CTK

In football there were rather mixed emotions of Czech manager Pavel Vrba following the draw for the European Championships in France next year. Before, the draw Vrba said that he wanted to avoid the same group as Germany. That wish was fulfilled, but instead the Czechs were drawn in the same group as Spain, Turkey, and Croatia. This was what the Czech manager had to say after the draw:

“Of course there is one clear favourite and that is Spain. There are then three teams which must fight it out for the remaining qualification place from the group. We will have to see how we perform. Perhaps it is an advantage that we start off with Spain, it might be positive or negative, but I take it as positive. I believe that we will get enough points to progress, though I repeat that we are facing a tough group.”

Petr Čech equals David James clean sheet tally in Premier League

Petr Čech, photo: CTK

Staying with football, Czech and Arsenal keeper Petr Čech notched up another milestone in his career in England’s Premier League. Čech helped the Gunners to a 2:0 victory against Aston Villa and in doing so recorded his 169th clean sheet. That total equals the Premier League record held by David James. The away win put Arsenal at the top of the league but they could be knocked off that position by the surprise of the season, Leicester, who are playing on Monday night.

Liberec maintain large lead in extra liga

Michal Bulíř, photo: CTK

In ice hockey, Liberec continued their amazing run so far in the extra liga, albeit with a slender 1:0 win against bottom of the table Litvínov. They had to wait until the 37th minute for the sole goal by Michal Bulíř with the assist from Branko Radivojevič. He said the team is not celebrating the success so far:

“The players are very modest. They know what it was like in past years and they really appreciate where we are now. If we started to be satisfied with ourselves the coach or older players would soon crack down.“

Liberec have a 10 point lead over second placed Hradec Králové after the 28th round of the season.

Ester Ledecká triumphs in first giant slalom World Cup event

In snowboarding, Ester Ledecká won the World Cup parallel giant slalom at Carezza, Italy, the opening event of the season. She had a 45 second lead over Swiss competitor Ladina Jenny. The Carezza success came in spite of the Czech arriving the day before the competition started and not having any practice on the slope.

Gabriela Soukalová stays top of biathlon table

Gabriela Soukalová, photo: CTK

Czech biathlete Gabriela Soukalová remains at the top of the World Cup standings after five competitions. She was third in the 10 kilometre event at Hochfilzen, Austria, on Saturday, trailing first placed German Laura Dahlmeir by just over 18 seconds. Soukalová now has 222 points in the overall table. She increased her lead over second positioned Franziska Hildebrand, who was fourth in the Austrian event.