Ukraine's Tennis Team Reaches Billie Jean King Cup Final for First Time

A historic achievement of the Ukrainian tennis team, a curious defeat of Chornomorets, wrestling medals and a potential promotion of Nico-Basket - in a digest of sports events from the South of Ukraine from Intent.

Tennis. Ukraine - for the first time in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup

Elina Svitolina. Photo: Ukrainian Tennis Federation

• This week, the Ukrainian national tennis team competed to reach the final round of the Billie Jean King Cup (the main competition among national teams in women's tennis).
• To get to the final eight, the Ukrainians had to win the qualifying group, in which they were rivals with the national teams of Poland and Switzerland.
• The first match against the Poles was won early - Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostiuk won and the doubles match only affected the additional indicators.

• In the next match against the Swiss, Marta Kostiuk unexpectedly lost in the first encounter. However, Svitolina secured the victory in the group for our team when she won the first set against Gilles Teichmann. Later, Elina brought the match to victory. And Nadiya Kichenok and Katarina Zavatska put a bright spot on the match, defeating the Swiss in doubles and securing the victory.

• Ukraine is reaching the final round of the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time. Before that, our national team stopped three times one step short of the exit. The potential rivals of the Ukrainians will be the national teams of China, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Spain and the United States.

Games and results

Chijoke Anyiagboso. Screenshot: FootballHub

• Chornomorets Odesa lost away to Obolon Kyiv.The hero of the last round, Chidoke Anyiagboso , this time made an unfortunate mistake when trying to knock the ball out and sent it into his own net. This curious penalty kick was the only one in this match.

UPL table. Screenshot: flashscore.ua

"Niko-Basket are the runners-up of the Premier League. Photo: fbu.ua

• The Basketball Major League hosted the Final Six. The first match featured a southern derby. " Niko-Basket defeated BIPU from Odesa, which finished the season in sixth place. In the semifinals, the team from Mykolaiv continued their winning trend by beating the second team of the regular season, Sambir. Only in the final did Kharkiv Falcons stop Niko in a dominant style. However, the second place allows the team from Mykolaiv to apply for the Super League next season. The regional authorities and the club's management have previously said that this possibility will be considered, so we will wait for the final decision.

• The Ukrainian national futsal team defeated Cyprus and secured a place in the finals of Euro 2026.
  

The table of the qualifying group. Screenshot: flashscore.ua

The women's national handball team of Ukraine. Photo: Anze Malovrh

• The women's national handball team lost to the Czechs in the playoffs for the World Cup. Everything was decided in the first match, where the Czech Republic won with a crushing difference of more than 15 goals. The return match brought a minimal victory for the Ukrainians.

Events of the week

Ukraine's national wrestling team. Photo: UWW

• Ukraine's women's wrestling team won first place in the team standings at the European Championships. Four Ukrainians became champions - Alla Belinska from Kherson, as well as Oksana Livach, Iryna Bondar, and Anastasia Alpeyeva. Another four athletes won bronze medals: Oleksandra Khomenets, Solomiya Vynnyk, Alina Filipovych, and Iryna Kolyadenko.

Oleksiy Sereda. Photo: Photo.

• Oleksii Sereda , a diver from Mykolaiv, has started competing at the World Cup. At the first stage, Oleksii managed to take 4th place in the 10-meter tower diving. The second stage took place on the night of April 13-14 in Canada. The Ukrainian became a bronze medalist with 490.80 points. The gap from the fourth place was only 0.05 points. This award was the first for Oleksiy since his performance at the 2024 World Championships.

Natalia Zhukova. Photo: ewcc2025.com

• Anna Ushenina, who took 8th place at the European Women's Chess Championship and won the right to represent Ukraine at the World Cup. Anna got 7.5 points in 11 matches. Natalia Zhukova from Odesa is 23rd with seven points and second among Ukrainian women.

Shot of the week

Yevhen Melnyk leaving the award ceremony. Photo: Ukrainian Karate Federation

• The hero of the week was 13-year-old karateka Yevhen Melnyk. Yevhen took third place at the Youth League in Spain, after which he was supposed to take part in a photo shoot with the other winners. But since there was also a representative of Russia on the podium, Yevhen defiantly left the award ceremony, making it clear that he would not participate in any joint award ceremony with the Russian. As the karate fighter walked away from the podium, his action was accompanied by applause.

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

Адлен Муатс