Lokomotiv-Kuban is on the verge of defeat

It has been a difficult week for the Kuban gamers. All of them were defeated. Handball players are critical because they have dropped out of the fight for medals. Lokomotiv-Kuban has an emergency situation, but the train has not yet derailed. But fiery news came from Tashkent from the world of individual sports!

Double Gadzhimagomedov

Let’s start with the bad news. On Sunday Kuban boxer Muslim Gadzhimagomedov became a two-time world champion. In Uzbekistan, the 27-year-old Russian won a gold medal in the weight category up to 92 kilograms.

In the final match, the captain of the Russian national team defeated Azzis Abbes Muhiidin from Italy by a separate decision of the judges. In the semifinals, he also defeated host Lazizbek Mullajanov of Uzbekistan by split decision.

Gadzhimagomedov won the 2019 World Championship in Yekaterinburg. In addition, the boxer has a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

It is worth noting that Russian athletes competed in Tashkent under the national flag. The winners of the competition receive two hundred thousand dollars. In addition, the gold medal winners were awarded championship belts.

Didn’t run away

The VTB United League basketball final is in full swing, on the one hand. On the other hand, it can also decline. So they can think in the camp of Kazan UNICS.

Unfortunately, for Lokomotiv-Kuban, the balance of power has changed significantly. It is especially insulting that this happened at home. The most dramatic matches were held in Krasnodar. The audience in the Kuban “Basket Hall” came in huge numbers: almost six thousand spectators both times.

Fights as a whole evolved in different ways. They were united by their bad debuts for Lokomotiv. In the first game, in six starting minutes, the hosts were able to score only four points, losing indecently – 4: 19. But they managed to find themselves, and by the first break, thanks to the efforts of the Russian players, the gap was “decent” – 18: 25. The “train” accelerated, turned on legionnaires, and to the equator of the match Loko took the lead, having shipped thirty goals per quarter into the opponent’s basket – 48 : 44.

The hosts also broke away by nine points at the end of the third period – 70 : 61. In this game, unexpectedly, a problem with the implementation of free throws crept up to Loko – only 61 percent (thirteen out of twenty-one). When Jaylen Burford shot four free throws in a row (one technical and three for a frustrated three-point shot) with a minute before the end of the period, he scored only twice – otherwise the difference could have been double digits. In response to this, UNICS immediately “ate” five points of advantage. The score is 70:66.

And the last quarter turned out to be difficult. She came out more defensive. In defense, the guests played even harder. Difficulties arose with Loko’s offensive ideas, in the last quarter Krasnodar scored only eleven points. With eight seconds left, the American Marcus Knight made an accurate shot, putting the guests ahead.

Alas, Krasnodar could not answer. Burford landed an emergency long-range shot from a difficult position and failed to score. Only one point decided the fate of the meeting – 82:81 (25:18, 19:30, 22:22, 16:11) in favor of the Kazan club.

— A very big problem for us was a slow start. UNICS got off to a very aggressive start and went far ahead of the score. We could not give an adequate answer for a long time, but in the end we still found the strength to return,” said Alexander Sekulich, head coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban. – Unfortunately, in the end we made several mistakes, which resulted in defeat. Until the final siren, they could not maintain the desired level of concentration. We entrusted the decisive shot to Burford, but UNICS played very aggressively in this episode, and Jaylen did not manage to put up a good screen. As a result, he got the ball too high. I had to improvise. Alas, it did not lead to success. I want to express my support for Okaro White. I hope he recovers for the next match. Today he lost four teeth at once – I have never seen this before in basketball.

And they didn’t catch up

Unfortunately, Okaro White couldn’t help Loko in the fourth match. The duel for “Loco” again started tight. The hosts scored only six points in seven minutes. However, UNICS also scored not as actively as in the previous match. The first quarter ended in favor of the guests – 19 : 12. And this time Loko’s backlog only got worse. By the big break, a significant handicap had accumulated – 32: 48. At the beginning of the third quarter, the gap was peak – 21 points.

Krasnodar did not stop fighting. Chris Horton had a great match. The hosts began to rapidly approach and reduced the gap to just three points – 59:62.

The fourth quarter promised to be fiery. This is how she came out! “Loco” in it was invariably engaged in the chase. Time after time, the “red-greens” found themselves on the verge of losing. Burford did not flinch either, scoring twice from afar.

In the last minute, we again had to win back three points. Barford stumbled while dribbling, fell – Akun-Purcell managed to pick up the ball and immediately threw a three-pointer at the fierce resistance of the defender. There were still eight seconds to play. Kazan’s Daryl Macon dribbled the ball, but hit it on his leg and missed it. Score – 81: 81. The match went into overtime.

By this moment, due to the enumeration of personal remarks, the leaders of UNICS, Nenad Dmitrievich and Markus Knight, went to rest ahead of schedule. And Loko looked, perhaps, the favorite. Alas, the five-minute period started unsuccessfully – with the loss of the ball. And again, I just had to recoup. Better rebounds in overtime were guests. A minute before the end, American Vince Carter was able to finish off the ball after his own miss – 90: 87. After that, the teams exchanged a number of errors. Vladislav Yemchenko scored only one free kick. By the way, Loko again let down the throws from the line – only 67 percent of sales (eighteen out of twenty-seven).

Loko’s final attack came out unintelligible. Burford attacked from a difficult position and failed. Score 90:88 (19:12, 29:20, 14:27, 19:22, 9:7) in favor of the guests.

– After such a first half, we had to think a lot, because at the beginning of today’s match we turned into a completely different team, which we were throughout the playoffs, – said Alexander Sekulich. “Suddenly couldn’t handle the pressure of the final series. In the second half we showed character, dragged the match into overtime, but… I won’t say anything more.

The score in the series became 3:1 in favor of UNICS. On May 16, Kazan has a chance to win the series at home. All is not lost yet: this season Loko often played better away than at home. If the “red-greens” win, then the sixth game of the series will take place in Krasnodar on the nineteenth of May. The seventh match, if necessary, will be held in the capital of Tatarstan on May 22.

no medals

Krasnodar SKIF valiantly completed the fight for medals in the men’s handball super league. There was a significant difference between the rivals at the end of the regular season. Recall: SKIF became the seventh, and “Victor” – the second. Nevertheless, it was the most stubborn pair of the quarterfinal stage.

In Krasnodar, SKIF lost with a minimal difference – 24 : 25. Not to say that a miracle was required in Stavropol, but at least a sensation. The teams gave the audience a great performance. This is the main merit, first of all, of Krasnodar. The match was difficult to develop, they did not despair and extended the intrigue until the last minutes.

“Victor” owned the initiative. They led by four goals (26:22) with eight minutes left. And here is a draw after two goals in a row by Chan Xuan Viet – 28 : 28. What a feeling!

Viet had a great match, scoring eight goals. Saveliy Shalabanov has one ball less. There was not enough help from Ruslan Dashko. The ex-player of “Victor”, who successfully played in Krasnodar, has not realized any of his five shots. With a minute left, he lost the ball when the opponent regained the lead. In response, “Victor” brought the advantage to two goals – the goal of Krasnodar three seconds before the end was no longer decisive. Score 30 : 29 – the hosts won and advanced to the semi-finals.

– We played all-in – there was nowhere to retreat. In the first half, we did not convert many of our chances, – said Dmitry Karlov, SKIF’s mentor, after the match. – In the second, when we equalized the score, we made a stupid loss. Play to the goal in that episode – the result could have been different.

— There was an excess of adrenaline in the match. I think that’s what everyone came for. Many thanks to the fans,” said Viktor’s head coach Sergei Gorbok. — Difficult match, which implies the playoffs. Many thanks to Krasnodar for helping us make this show.

SKIF now has to fight for the fifth – eighth place. Astrakhan Dynamo will be the first opponent.

Unfortunately, in the women’s confrontation between the “Kuban” and “Lada” there was no real struggle, although the teams were right next to each other in the standings: fourth place against fifth. Both in Krasnodar and Togliatti, Lada won two confident victories.

Away, the “yellow-greens” could not win back a six-goal head start after a home defeat. “Lada” completely controlled the course of the match. In the second half, the hosts of the site even allowed themselves to let the closest substitutes on the field. Score – 31: 23 – a confident victory for the Togliatti club.

– We played well. We left in a good mood and had a match with him until the last minute, – commented on the outcome of the fight, the mentor of Lada Ekaterina Marennikova.

– Congratulations to “Lada” on the passage further. As for the game, it is impossible to win against such an opponent with poor implementation, – said the head coach of Kuban Denis Saifulin. “It haunted us at home, it got even worse here. There was a situation when they forced the opponents to make mistakes, they should have benefited from this, but again they lost the ball.

– There were a lot of mistakes in the series, both at home and away. This is where we failed. It’s a pity that they played like that, – said the captain of “Kuban” Yana Savinova.

One sensation happened in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Super League. Astrakhanochka dropped out of the fight, having lost the duel to Zvezda. “Kuban” will play against “Stavropol” in a mini-tournament for fifth – eighth place. The second pair was formed by Astrakhanochka and Dynamo-Sinara.