Slovakia routs Bulgaria 82-0 in women’s Olympic qualifying hockey…Landis, team in negotiations for 2009 comeback…
Slovakia routs Bulgaria 82-0 in women’s Olympic qualifying hockey
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — With more goals than minutes in the game, Slovakia’s women’s ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory over Bulgaria in Olympic qualifying.
Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, played in Latvia. The margin of victory is a record for a women’s International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.
“We took it as training,” Slovakia coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday’s game.
Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.
Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Bulgaria was eliminated after scoring one goal and giving up conceding 192 in the tournament.
The Slovakian men’s team clinched its biggest ever victory against the Bulgarians 14 years ago when they won 20-0.
Source: AP NEWS
Landis, team in negotiations for 2009 comeback
Floyd Landis is preparing his own comeback.
The American who won the 2006 Tour de France but then had his title stripped for a positive doping test is looking to return to a team run by Momentum Sports Group.
“We are in negotiations with Floyd Landis to ride for the team in 2009, but we do not as of yet have a signed contract,” said team director Mike Tamayo at the Tour of Missouri.
Landis did not return messages left by the Associated Press on his phone and via e-mail.
The comeback first was reported by Cyclingnews.com.
Landis’ suspension ends Jan. 30, 2009 and it’s no surprise that the 32-year-old cyclist intends to come back. Since his positive test rocked the cycling world in 2006, he has been on the sideline, fighting and losing the case at every level, trying to make ends meet and seeking a return.
Landis served as an adviser for Rock Racing, but rumors that he might race for the team never panned out.
The news of Landis’ intent to return comes on the heels of Lance Armstrong’s announcement that he plans to race in the 2009 Tour de France. Armstrong, who won the Tour seven straight times before Landis took the title in 2006, said racing last month in the Leadville 100 in Colorado “totally kick-started my engine.”
Landis participated in that race in 2007, finishing 1 minute, 43 seconds out of the lead. He was able to race in Leadville and a few other small races that did not fall under anti-doping regulations.
Landis always has said he was clean and was victimized by an anti-doping system he says is rigged against athletes.
Last year, he was part of a bizarre, two-week hearing in which he tried to expose the flaws in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the drug-testing culture in cycling. He lost that case, then lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, meaning he had to serve the full two-year ban that is routine for a first-time offender.
Source: AP NEWS
