ARMENIANOW.COM SPORTS DIGEST March 11, 2005
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SPORTS DIGEST: NO GREAT SKATES IN MEXICO; ON THE MAT IN IRAN …
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmenianNow Reporter
ICE HOCKEY
Yes, Armenia has an ice hockey team.
Yes, it isn~Rt a very good one.
In Division 3 World Cup qualifying competition held in Mexico City,
Mexico (at least they get to play in a warm- weather city), the
Armenian national team lost 3-20 to ice hockey stalwart Ireland (the
~SEmerald Bhoys~T) in a tournament that concludes March 15. Besides
Armenia and Ireland Division 3 includes the national teams of South
Africa, Mexico and Luxemburg.
The Armenian national team is mainly made up of Armenian hockey
players playing on amateur or semi-pro level teams in Russia and
the USA. However, there are also a number of players in the team
representing clubs based in Armenia, of which there are four.
The defeat on Wednesday is an improvement over last year~Rs
St. Patrick~Rs Day match with Ireland, in which the Armenian side
went down 1-15, after scoring the first goal.
FOOTBALL
Full team: The Armenian national team will play a friendly match
against the national team of Kuwait in Dubai (UAE) on March 18.
Armenia head coach Bernard Casoni will have an opportunity to try
not only experienced and well-established players but also young
footballers before Armenia~Rs qualifier against Andorra in late March.
According to the FFA department in charge of organizing and holding
competitions, because of Armenia~Rs friendly in Dubai, the Pyunik
v Mika match in Armenian Cup 2005, which was originally planned for
March 19, will be held on March 20. The Pyunik 2 v Esteghlal Kotayk
match will be held on March 19 instead of March 20.
Armenia~Rs next friendly opponent has also been announced. The
Football Federation of Armenia and the Football Federation of Jordan
have reached a preliminary agreement to hold Armenia-Jordan friendlies
in Jordan on August 30, and in Armenia on October 4.
Armenia~Rs 2006 World Cup qualifier against Andorra to be held in
Yerevan~Rs Vazgen Sargsyan stadium on March 26, at 6:00 pm local time
will be served by referees from Malta. According to the FFA press
service, the head referee will be Joseph Atard, the first assistant
will be Philip Agus, second assistant ~V Conrad Borg, fourth official
will be Adrian Casha. The match inspector is Sergey Zuyev (Russia),
FIFA inspector is Istvan Huzar (Hungary).
U-19 team: From May 27 to 31, Armenia~Rs U-19 team will participate in
the second qualifying stage for U-19 2004/2005 European Championships
to be held in Hungary.
Armenia~Rs young footballers involved in Group 4 together with
U-19 teams from Hungary, Italy and Belgium will play their first
match against Italy in Andrashida on May 27. Armenia~Rs second match
will be against Belgium on May 29 (again in Andrashida). On May 31,
Armenia will play against the hosts Hungary in Zalegershek, which is
considered to be one of the centers of Hungarian football.
Hungary v Belgium will be held on May 27, Hungary v Italy will be
played on May 29, and Italy v Belgium will take place on May 31.
Qualified: As was announced this week, the FFA Licensing Department
has received a Qualicert certificate. Leading specialists from the
prestigious Swiss SGS auditing company~Rs Kiev branch conducted an
audit of the FFA Licensing Department on November 29, 2004. After that
the Geneva-based SGS Certification Committee made a unanimous decision
to issue a Qualicert certificate to the FFA Licensing Department.
According to the FFA press service, this certificate is not only the
indication of the high-quality work of the FFA Licensing Department,
but also has a financial aspect. ~SWe can now say with certainty that
the financial assistance that the FFA receives through the Hat Trick
program will be implemented in the whole planned volume, which would
be impossible if the certification of the FFA Licensing Department
failed,~T the FFA said in a press release.
According to the FFA, the issuance of this certificate is not only
an honor, but also an obligation, since every year audits will be
conducted by UEFA and companies authorized by the European football
governing body for the purpose of verifying compliance with the
requirements of this certificate: ~SFor this reason the FFA Licensing
Department will continue to work in earnest doing everything that
will promote the development of Armenian football.~T
CHESS
Kasparov intends to give up chess: According to the A1+ website,
Gari Kasparov intends not to play professional chess anymore. He
announced this after winning for the ninth time in the international
tournament in Linares (Spain). The chess player said that he had a
very hectic schedule during recent years.
The website notes that Kasparov will play only in unofficial chess
tournaments, will write memoirs and will be engaged in politics.
National championship: The semi-final stage of the 65th championship
of Armenia among men ended in Kapan this week. The best 40 chess
players representing the republic~Rs regions took part in that stage.
Seven places in the first group of the Armenian chess championship were
contested during the tournament. In quick chess the first to third
places were occupied by Vachagan Shekunts (Goris), Gevorg Alaverdyan
(Hrazdan) and Mikael Mamikonyan (Vanadzor).
A special prize for the U-16 chess player was received by 10-year-old
David Shahinyan from Vanadzor. Veteran player Levon Nersisyan from
Gyumri also won a special prize. The 2nd and 3rd places in the main
tournament were occupied by Armenak Yeghyazaryan from Kapan and Garnik
Nersisyan from Vanadzor.
Aram Khachatryan from Vanadzor won the semi-final stage by gathering
8 out of 9 possible points.
The final stage of the championship will be held in Yerevan from
March 25 to April 10.
Vahanyan is 6th: The Anatoly Karpov international chess tournament
ended in Russia this week. In the last 9th round Armenia~Rs
representative Rafael Vahanyan drew against Alexander Grischuk
(Russia).
Gaining 4 points, Vahanyan shared the 6th place with Alexander
Onishchuk (USA) and Garcia Dominguez (Spain). The winner of the
tournament is French chess player Etienne Barcot, who gained 6 points.
WRESTLING One gold, two silvers: Greco-Roman wrestler Levon Geghamyan
(86 kg), winning all his four matches, became the winner of the
international tournament held in Tehran (Iran) in honor of Iranian
Olympic champion Tehti.
And in free-style wrestling at the same tournament wrestler from
Yerevan Roman Amoyan (55 kg, coached by Harutyun Khachatryan) won
the silver, losing to an Iranian wrestler in the final.
That was the second silver of Armenian wrestlers at the tournament
in Tehran. Earlier, Greco-Roman style wrestler representing Gyumri~Rs
army club Vahram Hunanyan (60 kg) won a silver medal for Armenia.