Sports News

In Sports News: In the second round of Czech first football division, Slavia and Sparta warm up for Champions League qualifiers, while Teplice's striker Martin Fenin scores another goal and may be leaving to play abroad; no medals for Czechs at the World Cup in canoeing; and Radek Stepanek reaches the semifinals in Montreal.

Slavia warming up for Champions League qualifier against Ajax Amsterdam

Slavia Prague - Kladno, photo: CTK

In the second round of the Czech Gambrinus Liga, Slavia Prague marked a 2:0 victory over Kladno on Sunday. In the first half, Kladno had some good goal attempts but Slavia's goalkeeper Vaniak proved unbreachable. The home team's strikers squandered several opportunities as well before, in the 51st minute, Vlcek passed the ball to Volesak who scored from the edge of the six yard box. Eight minutes later, the home-comer Vladimir Smicer converted a penalty kick scoring a goal for Slavia after 11 years. The game was a nice warm-up for Slavia which is going to Holland to play Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

...while Sparta does poorly in Plzen before facing Arsenal on Wednesday

Sparta Prague - Plzen, photo: CTK

Sparta Prague, on the contrary, was unable to score in Plzen and drew the game 0:0. Sparta's performance fell far behind expectations given that on Wednesday they will confront Arsenal London with Czech international Tomas Rosicky in the Champions League preliminary in Prague. The match is set to be broadcast live by Czech TV but the channel threatened to stop the broadcast immediately if any racist remarks are heard from the audience. To prevent this, Sparta's captain Tomas Repka warned all fans of possible consequences and said his team was not playing for racists.

Teplice's Martin Fenin strikes again

In other games of the second round, Teplice's star striker Martin Fenin scored his third goal in two matches for the North Bohemian club. His performance against Jablonec was closely observed by scouts from several European clubs including Germany's Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin as well as Espanyol Barcelona from Spain. Viktoria Zizkov lost on Sunday morning 3:4 to Brno while Banik Ostrava won 5:2 over Most with in a nervous and violent game

Czech canoeists without success at World Championship in Germany

In the sport of canoeing, Czechs return from the World Championships in Duisburg, Germany without a medal, for the first time in 21 years. Two-times Olympic Games winner and world champion Martin Doktor finished 9th in the double canoe finals with Jiri Heller on Sunday and failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in China next year. Likewise, Mruzkova and Blahova defending silver medals from the previous world championships came in fifth in double kayak finals.

Radek Stepanek loses to Federer in Montreal semifinals

Radek Stepanek, photo: CTK

Czech tennis player Radek Stepanek lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals of Rogers Cup in Montreal, part of the ATP Masters series. Despite the defeat, the season has been great for Stepanek who was considering ending his career six months ago due to health problems. The former number eight player won the Los Angeles Classic ATP tournament in July and in Montreal beat Gonzalez, Haas, and Davydenko, all of the top ten. Radek Stepanek moved 24 positions on the ATP Top 100 and is currently 36th.

Stepanek also announced at the weekend that his relation to Martina Hingis, the former number one in women's WTA ranking, is over. The couple started dating a year and a half ago and got engaged in November last year.