In Sports News: Barbora Špotáková wins Diamond League in women’s javelin for second time in career; in football, Czech midfielder Petr Jiráček appears Hamburg-bound; Bayer Leverkusen want almost 100,000 euros in damages for attack on team player; Sparta and Jablonec face each other on Monday in Czech top division; Kvitová faces Slovenia’s Polona Hercog in the first round of the US Open.
Špotáková wins Diamond League for second time in career
Barbora Špotáková, photo: CTK
Competitor Barbora Špotáková has won the Diamond League in the women’s javelin for the second time in career. The Czech competitor, who also won gold at the London Olympic Games this year, defeated her rivals in Birmingham at the weekend with a throw of 66.8 metres. For overall victory in her sport, the athlete will receive a cheque for 40,000 dollars, but she has to take part in one more event, on September 7, in Brussels, points out daily Mladá fronta Dnes. Špotáková first won the Diamond League in 2010.
Football: striker Jiráček to play for Hamburg
Petr Jiráček
Czech international Petr Jiráček, picked up by German football club Wolfsburg from Viktoria Plzeň last year, is reportedly Hamburg-bound. On Monday, the player will complete a medical examination and if he passes, he is expected to sign for four years. The contract will still need final approval by the German club, expected on Tuesday. According to sources, the club will acquire the player for four million euros. The Czech midfielder was one of the best players on the Czech squad earlier in the summer, scoring two goals at Euro 2012, one of which clinched the squad’s advance to the competition’s knock-out stages.
Leverkusen seek damages for Kadlec
Michal Kadlec, photo: Bayer Leverkusen
In other news from the German Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen are seeking 96,000 euros in damages (the equivalent of around 2.4 million crowns) from assailants who attacked Czech player Michal Kadlec in April. The club has given the duo until the end of September to pay off the amount, writes Czech news website idnes. The damages were tabulated along the lines of the player’s salary plus bonuses. Kadlec missed two weeks after suffering a badly broken nose by assailants, aged 20 and 24, who attacked him at a discotheque in Koln. He had to play the rest of the season wearing a special protective mask. The police had earlier records on both of the attackers: one of the two received a ban in 2010 from all of Germany’s football stadiums.
Sparta face Jablonec in Gambrinus liga
České Budějovice - Liberec, photo: CTK
In the Czech top flight, the Gamrbinus liga, Plzeň and defending-champions Slovan Liberec, tied for first place at 10 points, won their respective games at the weekend: Plzeň defeated Mladá Boleslav by a score of 2:0, while Liberec beat České Budějovice by the same margin. The wins kept them ahead of Sparta Prague, who are in second spot (also at 10 points), and Jablonec (also at 10 points) on goal difference. But Sparta face Jablonec later on Monday, meaning the top of the table will change again by the end of the day. Příbram, meanwhile, continue at the bottom of the standings with only three points in five games: the team has earned three draws and suffered two defeats.
Kvitová beats Kirilenko for New Haven title
Petra Kvitová, photo: CTK
Petra Kvitová beat Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (9), 7-5 on Saturday to win the New Haven Open, the Czech star's second WTA tournament title in three weeks. The second-seeded Kvitová trailed 5-2 in the second set before taking five consecutive games for the victory that avenged a loss to the Russian in the Olympic quarterfinals. On Monday the final grand slam of the season, the US Open, gets underway: Petra Kvitová will face Slovenia’s Polona Hercog in the first round.
