Chornomorets Appoints Oleksandr Kucher as New Coach, Rakitsky Joins

A new coach and a star veteran at Chornomorets, two medals for Mykolaiv freedivers, and Balta's fight for the gold medal in the Volleyball Super League - in the digest of sports events from the South by Intent.

Football. Oleksandr Kucher is the new coach of Chornomorets

Photo: FC Chornomorets.

• On Monday, March 24, Chornomorets Odesa announced the transfer of head coach Oleksandr Babych to the position of the club's sporting director.
• On the same day, the team introduced a new coach. It was 42-year-old Oleksandr Kucher. So far, Kucher is better known as a footballer who has played more than 50 matches for the Ukrainian national team as a central defender.
• As a coach, Kucher spent two seasons with Metalist (not to be confused with Metalist-1925) and a season with the now defunct Dnipro-1. Kucher's main task for this season will be to keep the Sailors in the Premier League.

Football. Yaroslav Rakitsky is a star newcomer to Chornomorets

Yaroslav Rakitsky. Photo: FC Chornomorets.

• Oleksandr Kucher 's first signing was his long-term center back partner at Shakhtar and the Ukrainian national team, Yaroslav Rakitskyi (this is how the club and he spell the player's name, although the variant "Rakitskyi" was previously used.
• The 35-year-old played 54 matches for the national team and participated in Euro 2012 and 2016.

Rakitsky at Zenit.

• In the previous stages of his career, Yaroslav was often the subject of controversy due to his lack of patriotic stance. For example, he refused to sing the national anthem before national team matches, and in 2019 he scandalously left Shakhtar for Zenit St. Petersburg.

Rakitsky in Pokrovsk. Photo: Yaroslav Rakitsky/Instagram.

• With the start of the full-scale invasion, however, Yaroslav sharply condemned the actions of the Russian regime and terminated his contract with the St. Petersburg team. He returned to Shakhtar, started posting on social media in Ukrainian, and is actively involved in volunteer activities, helping the Defense Forces in the Pokrovsk sector.
• The debut for Oleksandr and Yaroslav was very difficult. A hat-trick by Brazilian Bruninho guaranteed Karpaty a crushing victory in the match against Odesa. Rakitsky came on as a substitute in the 76th minute. The defeat of the Seafarers, coupled with the victory of Ingulets, led to Chornomorets taking the last place.

Screenshot: flashscore.ua.

Games and results

Photo: Ukrainian Volleyball Federation.

• "Balta and Bukovyna startedthe final series for the gold medals of the Women's Volleyball Super League. The first two matches went off without a hitch - the Chernivtsi team had a significant advantage on their home court and lost only one game. The next match of the series will take place on April 5 on the Baltic floor.

Elina Svitolina. Photo: WTA.

• At the 1/8 finals of the prestigious WTA tournament in Miami, two Ukrainian women continued to fight. Elina Svitolina once again fell to Iga Svintek by the will of the draw. She failed to repeat the sensation from Wimbledon 2023, as the Pole moved on. Similarly, Marta Kostiuk ended her fight at this stage, defeated by local heroine Jessica Pegula.

Photo: Seasters FC.

• Seasters FC defeated Shakhtar and are now in the running for Major League medals. The match took place on National Guard Day, and before the game, the National Guard orchestra performed the national anthem.

• In the battle of the outsiders of the Women's Handball Super League, Mykolaiv's Real lost twice to CYSS 1-HNU and lost a chance to move up from the last line in the table.

Events of the week.

Ukrainian ski acrobats. Photo: Getty Images.

• Ukraine's ski acrobatics team (Angelina Brykina, Oleksandr Okipnyuk, Dmytro Kotovskyi ) won silver at the World Championships. This is the biggest success of the season in all winter sports. Our athletes lost only to the US team.

Photo: Iryna Delova.

• Kateryna Sadurska , a multiple world record holder and freediver from Mykolaiv, won two silver medals at the World Games in China. In particular, Kateryna covered 250 meters in the monoloist, which is a new record for Ukraine.

Photo: Anna Kull.

• 16-year-old Ukrainian Taisiia Onofriichuk triumphed at the Grand Prix rhythmic gymnastics in France. Taisiia won the all-around and all four individual disciplines - ball, ribbon, clubs and hoop.
• The Basketball Federation of Ukraine has determined the venue and regulations for the Major League Final Six. The tournament will be held in Kyiv, and in the first quarterfinal on April 11, we will see a southern derby: Niko Basket, which finished third in the regular season, will play the sixth team in the regular season, BIPA Odesa.

Image of the week.

Image: Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok/Instagram.

• Another cynical and brutal attack by Russian invaders on the city of Dnipro has severely damaged the home of tennis players Liudmyla and Nadiya Kichenok. A hotel and restaurant complex where the athletes used to train was also attacked by drones. At least 4 people were killed and 21 wounded as a result of these criminal actions of the Russian Federation.

As always, we wish you and your favorite athletes and teams all the best!

Адлен Муатс