Sports News

In Sports News this Monday: Sparta Prague draw their first game under new manager Jozef Chovanec while Slavia hammer Kladno to stay in front in the Czech football league; goalkeeper Antonín Kinský says thanks but no thanks to the chance to become Petr Čech’s understudy at Chelsea; and former world tennis number seven Nicole Vaidišová falls to 34th in the rankings.

Sparta fall further behind leaders Slavia in first game under new boss Chovanec

Sparta - Plzeň, photo: CTK

Sparta’s new manager Jozef Chovanec oversaw his first game since taking over from Vítězslav Lavička when the Prague club travelled to Viktoria Plzeň on Sunday. Chovanec, who had been serving as Sparta president, may have a clearer idea of the task ahead of him after seeing his charges play out a 1:1 draw. There were several changes in the Sparta line-up, but little improvement in terms of performance; they went ahead through Miroslav Slepička just after the half-hour mark, but less than ten minutes later found themselves on level terms when former Sparta player Jan Rezek equalised for Plzeň, and that’s how things remained until the final whistle.

That result leaves the country’s richest club seven points behind league leaders Slavia, who walloped Kladno 5:0 at Eden, with goals from Milan Ivana (two), Vladimír Šmicer, Jaroslav Černý and Ladislav Volešák.

Baník Ostrava - Bohemians Praha, photo: CTK

Elsewhere, one of the highest scoring games in the history of the Czech league took place on Sunday, when Baník Ostrava beat Bohemians Praha 5:4 at home. And Mladá Boleslav’s black French midfielder Ludovic Sylvestre answered racist abuse from the terraces in Teplice with two goals, waving to the offending fans after the first. Sylvestre’s brace helped Boleslav, who are second in the table, to a 3:2 win.

Goalkeeper Kinský declines chance to join Čech at Chelsea

The goalkeeper Antonín Kinský says he is not interested in becoming Petr Čech’s understudy at Chelsea. The 33-year-old has been tracked by the mega-bucks club, but said while he was flattered by the interest he wanted to play every week, not warm the bench. Kinský, who is with the Russian side Saturn, has five international caps.

Vaidišová falls to 34th in rankings

The decline of the Czech women’s tennis number one Nicole Vaidišová continues, with the 19-year-old falling out of the world top 30. She is now 34th and will drop further in the rankings again, given that she hasn’t started at a tournament in Linz where she reached the quarter-finals last year. In fact Vaidišová, who reached number 7 in the world just under a year and a half ago, has ended the season early due to a wrist injury.