Tag Archives: sport

Kazakh football team qualifies for UEFA tournament

AUG. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shakhtar Karagandy may be unknown across the football world but it has broken new ground for Kazakhstan. The team from the industrial city of Karagandy has become the first football club in Kazakhstan to qualify for either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.

Just two games, against Scotland’s Celtic on Aug. 20 and Aug. 28, now stand between the players of Shakhtar Karagandy and the glitz, glamour and riches of Europe’s top tier football.

Even if they lose against Celtic, they are still guaranteed a place in the group stages of Europe’s second tier competition.

For Kazakh football, this is a milestone. Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian country to play in UEFA, the European sector of world football, but it has failed to make any serious impact.

Now the unglamorous team from Karagandy, shakhtar means miner in Russian, has changed that. It beat FC Bate, a relatively experienced team from Belarus, 2-0 over two matches and then defeated Armenia’s FC Skenderbeu 5-3 over another two matches.

Win or lose against Celtic, Shakhtar Karagandy and Kazakhstan are finally set for a European football adventure.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 147, published on Aug. 12 2013)

Armenia footballer moved to Germany

JULY 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — German football club Borussia Dortmund paid Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk 24m euro for Armenian footballer Henrikh Mkhitaryan, one of the highest fees paid for a footballer from the former Soviet Union. The 24-year-old has played for the Armenian national team 39 times and scored 11 goals.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)

Kazakh fund to sponsor F1 team

MAY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh investment fund has agreed to sponsor the Britain-based Williams Formula 1 racing team, media reported. The deal, worth an undisclosed amount and hatched between Williams and the investment company TAK Group, will give more publicity to the Kazakh capital Astana.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)

Georgia sends team to Games in Russia

MAY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pushing aside its disagreements, Georgia said it would send a team to the Winter Olympics in Russia next year. Relations between Georgia and Russia have improved steadily since a war in 2008 although the Georgian Olympic Committee had considered boycotting the Winter Games, set to be hosted by Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)

Kazakh businessman eyes Inter Milan

APRIL 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bulat Utemuratov, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men and an associate of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is apparently weighing up buying into Italian soccer club Inter Milan, Italy’s media reported. Some of the richest men in the former Soviet states have invested in European soccer clubs over the past decade.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)

Ice-hockey player dies in Kazakhstan

APRIL 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Russian ice-hockey star playing for a Kazakh team died after being hit in the head by an opposition player, media reported. Dmitry Uchaykin, who was playing for Pavlodar in northern Kazakhstan, died from a brain haemorrhage the day after the match. He had driven himself home but felt increasingly unwell in the night.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)

Azerbaijan to make soccer shirt deal

JAN. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is close to agreeing a deal with top Spanish soccer side Athletico Madrid to sponsor their shirt for the next 1-1/2 seasons, media reported. Flush with cash from energy revenues, Azerbaijan has been on an international marketing drive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)

Azerbaijan’s capital to host European Olympics

DEC. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Much to the delight of the Azerbaijani authorities who have been heavily marketing their capital city, Baku will host the inaugural European Olympic Games in 2015. The 41-member European Olympic Committee approved Baku’s bid, it was actually the only application, to hold the event at a meeting in Rome.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)

Olympic results for Central Asia and S.Caucasus

AUG. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At the Olympic Games in London, Kazakhstan wanted to beat their previous best medals haul of three golds from both Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. They did, easily, with seven gold medals in cycling, weightlifting, long jump and boxing.

Kazakhstan was placed twelfth in the rankings, with the same gold medal haul as Australia. For the others, the Games were less successful.
Turkmenistan failed to win a medal and one of its boxing referees was sent home after

failing to stop a one-sided fight. An Uzbek gymnast faced even greater humiliation after she was disqualified for doping. Uzbekistan did win one gold medal in the men’s wrestling. There were no golds for either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, although a Tajik woman won a boxing bronze.

Azerbaijan had talked up their boxing hopes before the Games but the best it could manage was a bronze medal. They also had one coach sent home for cheating. In wrestling Azerbaijan won two golds along with another two silver and three bronze medals.

Georgia won its gold medal in judo . Neighbouring Armenia won three medals, but no gold.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)

Georgia complaints to the Olympic Games

JULY 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia has complained to the London Olympic Games for placing the disputed regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Russia, media reported. On the London 2012 website, the birthplaces of two of Russia’s wrestlers, born in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, were followed by “(Rus)” indicating they are in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 098, published on July 27 2012)