2020 is coming to an end. He gave humanity a lot of shocks that affected the world of sports.. The lion's share of the competitions did not take place according to the planned schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, even in such difficult conditions, sports life "
TSN Prosport sums up the sports year for Ukraine.
THE VICTORY OF THE TEAM OF UKRAINE OVER SPAIN The main football team of the country this year made its debut in the elite division of the League of Nations. Andrey Shevchenko's team competed in the same group with Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
“Blue-yellows” proved themselves worthy, gaining 6 points in five matches. In Lviv, a strong Swiss team was beaten (2: 1), and in Kiev at the Olimpiyskiy one of the strongest national teams of the planet, Spain, surrendered to the Ukrainians (1: 0).
Incredible emotions after the goal of Viktor Tsygankov, which " ) and in front of TV screens and gadgets, it's really hard to forget.
SCANDAL WITH THE CANCELED MATCH SWITZERLAND - UKRAINE Bitter aftertaste from the performances in the League of Nations left the away match with Switzerland, which was canceled at the last moment. The Lucerne doctor, where the meeting was to take place on November 17, quarantined the Ukrainian national team due to several cases of COVID-19 as part of our team. Andriy Shevchenko's charges were ready to play with a bloodless squad, but local authorities banned the match.
UEFA later reported that the UAF has no other team of relevant players to play on 17th or 18th November. Therefore, the fate of the fight will be determined by the UEFA Control, Disciplinary and Ethics Body (KDEI). As a result, the UEFA Appeals Committee awarded Ukraine a technical defeat 0: 3.
The Ukrainian Football Association has already appealed the UEFA decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. In its appeal, the UAF requires that the technical defeat of the Ukrainian national team be canceled, and the match played later or the procedure of the draw of the result. Date of consideration of the scandalous case has not yet been determined.
In this match, the team that would leave the elite division of the League of Nations was to be determined. If the court of Lausanne (ironically located in Switzerland - approx. ) Will confirm the decision of UEFA, the Ukrainian national team will play in League B in the next tournament.
UEFA EURO 2020, FIFA 2022 ELECTION DIE The European football championship, which was to be held in summer 2020 in 12 cities on the continent, had to be postponed due to the pandemic to the next year. New dates of the tournament: June 11 - July 11, 2021. There also remains uncertainty whether all 12 host cities will be able to host the competition, and whether fans will be allowed into the stands..
This year, the Ukrainian national team recognized the last rival in the group at the upcoming Euro: North Macedonia made its way through the round of play-offs and joined the team of Andriy Shevchenko, the Netherlands and Austria in Quartet C.
In addition, the draw for the qualification for the 2022 World Cup took place in December, which will be hosted by Qatar in an unconventional winter.. The Ukrainian national team won the rivals of the reigning world champions - the French, as well as Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kazakhstan. The Blue-Yellows will start qualifying in March 2021 with an away match against France, and will finish in the fall of the same year with two fights against the Balkans. FANTASTIC RECORD OF ROMANCHUK IN SWIMMING Ukrainian swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk demonstrated enchanting results this year. The climax of his accomplishments in 2020 was the conquest of the European record at a distance of 800 meters in freestyle.
24-year-old Ukrainian athlete at the International Swimming League series in Budapest covered the distance in 7:25. 73. This is an absolute continent record in short tide. Romanchuk surpassed the previous achievement of Frenchman Yannick Agniel by 3.5 seconds (7:29. 17), which lasted eight years.
Without a doubt, Mikhail will be one of the main hopes of Ukraine at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.. A UKRAINIAN IS THE STRONGEST PERSON OF THE PLANET Our compatriot Alexey Novikov this year became the winner of The World's Strongest Man, which took place in the USA. 24-year-old Ukrainian hero won the title of the strongest man on the planet, breaking the world record set back in 1984. He was able to lift almost 540 kilograms half a meter above the ground..
Novikov became the youngest winner of the prestigious strongman competition since 1984. He is the second Ukrainian who managed to win the title of the most powerful man in the world. Before him, the legendary Vasily Virastyuk did it in 2004.
SUCCESS OF THE MINER AND DYNAMO AT THE EURO AREA At the club level, the coronavirus lockdown forced UEFA to interrupt the European competitions and play them in a new format in August after the end of the also suspended national championships.
Shakhtar, who opened the Eurospring with a tough victory over Portuguese Benfica (2: 1, 3: 3), managed to reach the Europa League semifinals. On their way, the Pitmen confidently removed the German Wolfsburg (2: 1, 3: 0) and Basel (4: 1). The game against the Swiss took place in Germany, where, in fact, they played out the Europa League in the single-match format of the "
Luis Castro's team stopped one step away from the final - Inter Milan turned out to be too tough for the Ukrainian champion (0: 5).
Ukraine started the new season 2020/21 with two clubs in the Champions League. For the first time in four years, Dynamo made their way to the most prestigious European competition, and the main role in this was played by former Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu.
The arrival of an experienced Romanian specialist became the main sensation of the summer. After the dismissal of Alexei Mikhailichenko, most of the fans of Kiev expected the arrival of Viktor Skripnik or the return of Sergei Rebrov, but the year 2020 proved once again that he can surprise.
Under the leadership of 75-year-old Lucescu “Dinamo”, Dutch AZ and Belgian “Gent” passed in qualifying, and in the Champions League group they were ahead of “Ferencvaros”, taking third place after “Juventus” and “Barcelona”.
In turn, Shakhtar got into the “group of death”, where they twice sensationally beat Real Madrid (3: 2 in Madrid and 2: 0 in Kiev). And although there were disastrous 0:10 on aggregate from Borussia Monchengladbach, two draws with Inter brought the Pitmen to Eurospring 2021.
It is worth noting the game of the Pitmen's 19-year-old goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin, who made a lot of luxurious saves at the most crucial moments.
In February next year, Dynamo and Shakhtar will continue their fight in the 1/16 finals of the Europa League. Fortune this time was supportive of the Ukrainian teams. The Kievites got “Bruges”, which seems to be the optimal lot against the background of other options with the giants of European football, and the “miners” simply have to pass the Israeli “Maccabi” Tel Aviv.
" Dynamo finished the autumn part of the Premier League with a leader, which has not happened since the 2014/15 season.
BOXING BATTLES The boxing year for Ukraine turned out to be no less rich in significant events than the football. Three Ukrainians swung at the championship belts at once, however, all three attempts, unfortunately, were unsuccessful.
At the end of August, Victor Postol in Las Vegas met with American Jose Ramirez in a fight for the WBC and WBO light welterweight titles. The boxers gave an equal fight, but the judges sided with the local favorite - Ramirez won by split decision: 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
A month later, Sergei Derevyanchenko did not take advantage of his third chance to become the world middleweight champion. To the defeats from Daniel Jacobs and Gennady Golovkin, the lost fight to Jermall Charlo was added, who outboxed our compatriot: 116-112, 117-111, 118-110.
In October, we expected that the " Lomachenko sensationally lost to Teofimo Lopez in the fight for the title of absolute world lightweight champion: 112-116, 111-117, 109-119.
Vasily lost all his champion belts, and his further boxing path was under a question mark - Lopez flatly refuses to give revenge, since this was not spelled out in the contract for the fight.
A bright spot against the background of these failures was the fight between Alexander Usik and Derek Chisora. The Ukrainian, thanks to excellent footwork, outplayed the old-timer of the heavyweight division and won a convincing victory by unanimous judges: 117-112, 115-113, 115-113.
Thus, Usyk retained the status of a mandatory contender for the WBO belt, which belongs to Anthony Joshua.. It is expected that Sasha's next fight will already be the title one.
Super heavyweight Vladislav Sirenko and WBO International lightweight champion Denis Berinchik continue their ascent to the top of professional boxing, who remain invincible.
In 2020, promising Viktor Vykhrist made his professional debut, who in a year managed to destroy five opponents.
An important event for Ukrainian boxing was the inclusion of Vladimir Klitschko in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Klitschko Jr. became the second Ukrainian to receive such recognition. Before him, his brother Vitaly succeeded in 2018.
EXIT OF THE TEAM OF UKRAINE TO EUROBASKET-2022 The men's national basketball team of Ukraine won a ticket to the European Championship in 2022 ahead of schedule. Ainars Bagatskis' wards beat the Austrian team twice this year.
This success guaranteed our team participation in the final tournament of Eurobasket, despite the annoying defeats to Hungary and Slovenia in two other group stage matches..
The Ukrainian national team will play the two final qualifying matches in February 2021, so they will be able to take revenge on their offenders.
EUROPEAN Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships IN KIEV From 26 to 29 November 2020, the 36th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships took place in Kiev.
Ukrainian women fascinated with their beauty, plasticity, grace, and in each discipline were among the best.
Our compatriots took second place in the overall standings after gymnasts from Israel. In total, the Ukrainian team has 6 awards: 3 "
As you can see, 2020 brought Ukraine both outstanding triumphs and bitter failures.. Our country is rich in talented, motivated athletes who work tirelessly every day to delight fans with victories on domestic and international arenas.. Let's wish them fantastic new results and amazing records in 2021.