By Suren Musayelyan ArmeniaNow reporterPublished: 18 April, 2008
Tae Kwan do An Armenian fighter for the first time achieved a European title as Arman Yeremyan became the continent’s champion in the 78-kilogram section in the European Tae Kwan do Championships in Rome, Italy, Panorama.am reports. On the way to the gold medal Yeremyan beat fighters from Moldova, Ireland, Belarus, Norway and Spain.
Weightlifting
Armenian female weightlifter Meline Duluzyan (63 kg) repeated her success of a year ago by winning the gold at the European championships in Italy. The 19-year-old athlete lifted 235 kilograms in combination, including 107 in snatch and 128 in clean and jerk, to beat representatives of Turkey and Bulgaria who finished second and third, respectively.Meline’s teammate Nazik Avdalyan (69 kg) also won the gold showing 242 kg in combined (106 kg plus 136 kg). She outdid athletes from Russia and Bulgaria that finished second and third, respectively. Hripsime Khurshudyan (75 kg) managed only a “little gold medal” in clean and jerk. Armenia’s weightlifter Tigran Martirosyan (69 kg) won the European title among men showing the result of 346 kg in total (158 in snatch plus 188 in clean and jerk), leaving behind sportsmen from France and Bulgaria.Football The first leg of the semifinals in Armenia’s Cup Tournament were played this week. According to the Football Federation of Armenia (www.ffa.am), playing on home ground FC Pyunik (Yerevan) lost to FC Ararat (Yerevan) 1-2 and FC Banants (Yerevan) beat FC Mika (Ashtarak) 3-1. The second-leg semifinals are scheduled for April 23.Meanwhile, having shown good results in several friendly games, Armenia have moved five positions up to settle on the 78th spot on the FIFA world rankings for April. This is the highest world rating for Armenia since it joined FIFA in 1992. The more than 200-nation list is topped by Argentina, followed by Brazil and Italy. Full rankings are available on FIFA’s official website (www.fifa.com) ChessArmenian GM Levon Aronyan will participate in the M-Tel Masters Tournament to be held from May 7 (official opening) to May 18, 2008, in Sofia, Bulgaria.Aronyan’s opponents will be GMs Topalov (Bulgaria), Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Cheparinov (Bulgaria), Bu Xiangzhi (China).More than a dozen Armenian chess players will participate in the 9th European Individual Championships (men’s and women’s tournaments) held from April 20 (opening ceremony) to May 3, 2008, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.Among men to play in Plovdiv are GMs Vladimir Hakobyan, Gabriel Sargsyan, Karen Asryan, Tigran L. Petrosyan, Artashes Minasyan, Tigran Kotanjyan, Ashot Anastasyan, FIDE Master Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and Dmitri Harutyunyan. Among women are WGMs Elina Danielyan, Lilit Mkrtchyan, Nelli Aghinyan, WIMs Lilit Galoyan, Siranush Andreasyan, and Anna Hayrapetyan. Armenian GMs Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia) and Sergey Grigoriants (Russia) will also participate in the event.Meanwhile, Armenian GM Vladimir Hakobyan became Russian Club Cup Champion 2008 with “Ural” team. The tournament was held in Dagomis (near Sochi).(Source: www.armchess.am)