Sports weekend with Izvestia

Football

The Russian Championship. Spartak – Dynamo (Makhachkala), Zenit – Rostov

A new Russian Football Championship draw starts this weekend. For the first time in a long time, Zenit St. Petersburg will not start the tournament as its current winner — Krasnodar managed to take the gold medals from the blue-white-blues after their six-year dominance. In the upcoming first round of the new RPL season, there are no top matches where the tournament favorites play against each other. Against this background, the most interesting is the confrontation with Zenit, which will host the sturdy middle-class Rostov. It is also worth highlighting the meeting in Moscow, where Spartak will play on its own field with Dynamo Makhachkala, which managed to stay in the elite division after its last debut season in the Premier League and scored an away victory over the red-whites in the spring.

July 19, 20:30, Lukoil Arena (Moscow). July 20, 18:00, Gazprom Arena (Saint Petersburg). Live broadcasts on Match TV and Match Premier

"I hope the match with Sion took a step towards returning to European competitions"

Zenit football player Alexander Erokhin — about a friendly meeting with a rival from Switzerland, the Argentine rookie of the team and goals for the season

Water sports

World championship

One of the most medal-intensive international competitions in sports began this week. And for the first time in four years, Russian representatives are participating in it, even if they act in a neutral status. Some of them will perform in the next three days. On Saturday, 16-year-old Ksenia Misharina will make her debut in open water swimming at the World Championships. She will participate in a new discipline for this tournament — the 3 km knockout sprint. On the same day, Artem Maltsev for men, Tatiana Gaidai and Alexandra Schmidt for women will compete for medals in synchronized swimming in technical solo.

July 19: 03:00, open water swimming, 3 km, knockout sprint, women (Singapore); 09:00, synchronized swimming, technical solo, men; 13:30, synchronized swimming, technical solo, women, "Temporary arena of the World Aquatics Championships" (Singapore). Live broadcasts on Match TV, Match! Game" and "Match! The Arena

Golden Hopes: what results will the World Water Championship bring?

Neutral athletes from Russia are going to the start of the largest international tournament this summer

Mixed martial arts

UFC 318 tournament. Roman Kopylov – Paulo Costa

Next weekend, the prestigious UFC 318 tournament will be held in New Orleans in the USA. The main match of his card will be a lightweight bout between two famous Americans, Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier. But for Russian viewers, the most interesting fight should be another one in the main card — Russian Roman Kopylov will compete with Brazilian Paulo Costa in the middleweight division.

July 20, 06:30, Smoothie King Center Sports Complex (New Orleans, USA). Live broadcasts on Match TV and Match! The fighter"

Professional boxing

Alexey Papin – Milzhan Rovchanin

On Friday evening, the most high-profile boxing event in Russia will take place at the International Boxing Center in Luzhniki. Two Russian-Balkan confrontations are waiting for us as part of the boxing night. The WBA Asia heavyweight champion, Russian Alexei Papin, will enter the ring against Serbian Miljan Rovchanin in the main fight of the evening. Our 37-year-old boxer has not fought in official fights for almost a year and now he will try to confirm his status as one of the strongest in his weight class. Meanwhile, in the main match of the evening, another Russian, heavyweight Artem Suslenkov, the current IBF European champion, will enter the ring against Croat Agron Smakici.

July 19, 20:00, International Boxing Center (Moscow). Live broadcast on Channel One

Real hook: what Russian boxers have taught the North Korean military

The battles were held during the training camps of the army athletes of the two countries.

World Summer Universiade

The XXXIII World Summer Universiade kicked off in Germany this week. For the first time since 2022, Russians have been allowed to participate in such competitions. A delegation of 44 people went there from us. Initially, more athletes were admitted, but not all received visas. Nevertheless, Russian representatives can count on medals in several sports. Swimmers and judoists stand out in particular, as well as athletes who have achieved success at the adult level.

July 18-20, 15:30-19:00. "SME Arena" (Duisburg, Germany). Live broadcasts on Match TV, Match! Country" and "Match! The Arena