Closing ceremony of VII Asian Winter Games took place in Almaty
Almaty. February 7. Kazakhstan Today - The solemn closing ceremony of VII Asian Winter Games took place in Almaty in the Baluan Sholak Palace of Sports, Kazakhstan Today reports.
The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev declared VII Asian Winter Games closed.
In his speech, the head of state said, "69 sets of medals were awarded for the first time. It is a record for Winter Asian Games."
"I am glad that our sportsmen have shown great results and won so many gold medals. I congratulate the Kazakhstan sportsmen on this remarkable victory. I am very proud and glad that, despite world financial and economic crisis, we managed to construct unique objects and carry out this important event," the President underlined.
According to the head of state, "Kazakhstan ranks among continental powers capable to hold competitions of such high level... All of us, representatives of different people, became spiritually richer and more generous. We became better at understanding each other.
The President said that the relay race of Olympic flame took place during the Asian Games in Kazakhstan and "left unforgettable impression on our citizens." The Olympic Council has decided to make such relay race regular."
The President of Kazakhstan congratulated on closing of VII Asian Winter Games.
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Olympic flame for Paris 2024 Summer Games lit in Ancient Olympia
Images | Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe
The Olympic flame that will be burning for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games started its journey after being ignited at the birthplace of the Games in Ancient Olympia, Greece on Tuesday during a traditional ceremony, Xinhua reports.
Actress Mary Mina, in the role of an ancient Greek High Priestess, lit the torch using a backup flame instead of a concave mirror due to cloudy skies before the 2,500-year-old Temple of Hera, a goddess in ancient Greek mythology.
Approximately 600 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame over some 5,000km across Greece, passing through dozens of cities and archaeological sites, according to the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
The flame will be handed over to the Paris 2024 organizers on April 26 at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the venue of the first modern Olympics in 1896.
The following day, it will board Belem, a French three-masted vessel that was launched in 1896, on Piraeus port.
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Astana Qazaqstan Team rider finishes 2nd in Itzulia Basque Country Stage 2
Images | astana-qazaqstan.com
Samuele Battistella of Astana Qazaqstan Team took the second podium place on Stage 2 of the Itzulia Basque Country with a finish in the town of Kanbo. The stage ended with a sprint from a group of forty riders; Battistella launched a good sprint, but it was just not enough for the victory, Team’s official website reports.
I felt quite good today, and in general, in the last few days, so I was motivated to fight for high places at this stage. The final sprint was quite chaotic and nervous, and at some point, I found myself blocked. I had to look for a way forward, slightly missed the right moment to open the sprint. In the end I got a second place. However, I feel that my form is improving, and there is motivation and a desire to fight for something good in the next stages. We’ll see how things develop", - said Samuele Battistella.
Following today’s Stage Two Battistella moved up to 26th place in the overall standings.
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Kazakhstan’s Aibota Yertaikyzy hauls 3 medals at Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Thiais 2024
Images | Olympic.kz
Aibota Yertaikyzy of Kazakhstan has claimed three medals at the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix event in Thiais, France, Kazinform News Agency cites the press service of the Kazakhstan National Olympics Committee.
The Kazakhstani claimed silver in the exercises with the hoop and the ribbon as well as bronze in the exercise with the ball.
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Rybakina fights off Azarenka to make second straight Miami final
Images | ktf.kz
World No.4 Elena Rybakina advanced to her fourth final of the season after defeating No.27 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) in the semifinals of the Miami Open on Thursday. Rybakina improved to 4-0 over Azarenka and is now 22-3 on the 2024 season, KTF press-service reports.
Rybakina has enjoyed an outstanding start to her season on the hard courts, with titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and her first WTA 1000 final of the year in Doha. Last year, Rybakina was a win away from sweeping the Sunshine Double, falling to Petra Kvitova 7-6(14), 6-2 in the Miami final. She is just the third player in the last 10 years to make back-to-back Miami finals, joining Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005-2006.
Last year it was different conditions, I was coming from Indian Wells, a lot of wins," Rybakina said. "This year it's much different. I was not expecting honestly to be in the final, because I was not prepared that well for this tournament.
But really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again."
Rybakina will face American Danielle Collins in the final on Saturday.
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Rybakina draws level with world No 1 Iga Swiatek
Images | ktf.kz
Kazakhstan’s No 1 Elena Rybakina is now level with world No 1 Iga Swiatek, after winning Top-10 player Maria Sakkari at the WTA 1000 tournament, Kazinform News Agency reports citing Sports.kz.
According to Opta, "since 2020, Elena Rybakina (70%) has been one of only two players with a winning percentage of 70% or higher at WTA-1000 events against top 10-ranked opponents, along with Iga Swiatek (71.4%) - minimum 10 matches."
As reported, on Wednesday, March 27, Rybakina beat world No 9 Maria Sakkari from Greece -7:5, 6:7, 6:4, and stormed into the 2024 Miami Open semifinal, where she will face Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
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Tour of Rhodes. Alessandro Romele takes the final stage, second in the GC
Images | astana-qazaqstan.com
Astana Qazaqstan Development Team ends its Greek campaign on a high note, taking another stage win and the second podium place in the General Classification at the Tour of Rhodes, Team’s official website reports.
After yesterday solid success and well-deserved win in the bunch sprint in Stage 2 of the race, today Alessandro Romele once again proved to be the strongest at the finish line, winning Stage 3 in a sprint from a small group of leaders. This result allowed Romele to move up in the General Classification and to finish the race as the runner-up.
Besides, Alessandro won the white jersey of the best young rider, while Astana Qazaqstan Development Team was awarded as the best team of the race.
We were motivated to do something good in this last stage of the race, both aiming the stage result and the General Classification. Also, I wanted to protect my white jersey. Today’s stage was the hardest one, also nervous and really fast. Honestly, I did not feel that great at the start of the stage and during the first climb of the day, but as a team we worked very well all together and it helped me a lot to pass through those difficult moments and to come back into the race later. We continued working together mid-way, pushing hard and making some good selection in the bunch. We put the hammer down on the last climb of the day together with Rudolf Remkhi, while later it was Davide Toneatti, who attacked close to the top. It did not work then, but later Nicolas Vinokurov made a strong attack, breaking away with a few guys. It was a nice move, but our group, finally, brought them back with some 300 meters to the line. However, that attack of Nico was a good advantage for the team, and it helped me a lot managing my final sprint. I launched my spring using that high speed of the group while we were catching back the break and it worked pretty well. I am really happy my performance here, with two stage wins, second place in the General Classification, white jersey and the win in the team’s classification", - said Alessandro Romele.
Today, we wanted to race aggressively aiming the final GC podium and why not to win another stage. With 35 km to go the team did a perfect job pushing full gas on the last climb to launch Davide’s attack on the top of climb. I was able to follow the small chasing group behind, but when he got caught on the downhill, so we had to collaborate with other guys in the group, trying to keep our advantage. Well, finally, we got caught by the second chasing group with some 15 km to go, but I saw another opportunity and attacked again with three more guys. I think this move looked pretty good and we opened a gap, however, I was feeling like those guys were faster than me, so I started disorganizing the group, to provide a chance to Alessandro who stayed well placed in the group behind our shoulders. In the last 300 meters I saw the chase coming back at the full speed, so I launched the sprint to make a small lead-out for Alessandro. He did it perfectly and we got another nice win here in Rhodes. What a nice day for us!", - added one of today’s heroes Nicolas Vinokurov.
Thus, Astana Qazaqstan Development Team finishes its Greek campaign with two stage victories (Alessandro Romele, Tour of Rhodes), second place in the GC (Alessandro Romele, Tour of Rhodes), third place in the GC (Mattia Negrente, Visit South Aegean Islands) and a bunch of stage podiums and Top-10, including the fourth place in the Rhodes GP (Alessandro Romele).
We had a clear goal for these races in Greece - to try to get a win and to fight for the podiums in the General Classification. Now, all the goals are achieved as we won two stages, took a second and a third places in the overall, got a number of stage podiums and Top-10s. I am really happy with the way we spent this day, it was a key stage for the General Classification and the team played it perfectly. We made a huge selection on the climb and tried to create something afterwards. In the end of the day, we could win another stage and move up in the overall standings, also winning the team’s classification. We can be proud with our days here in Greece, but we won’t stop. The season just started, and we are aiming high in our next races", - said Dmitri Sedoun, Astana Qazaqstan Development Team Sports Director.
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