BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Rally Estonia hoping to be part of 2014 European Championship

The organizers of the European Rally Championship have expressed an interest in including Estonia as a stage in next year's season.

Francois Ribeiro, motorsport development director of Eurosports Event, the new organizer of the championship, was in Estonia last week. He met with representatives from the Autosport Association, Enterprise Estonia and the Ministry of Culture, according to rallyestonia.com.

Estonia's rally director, Urmo Aava, said the budget for rally racing in Estonia would need to be at least tripled in order to take part in the European championship. That would require government support, which will be decided in coming months.

It's not the first time the region's rally organizers have floated ambitious plans. In 2011, rally representatives from the Baltics and Poland met in Riga to discuss potential WRC stage in 2013 that would pass through all four of those countries. The plan did not materialize.

Rally racing has been a fairly popular sport in Estonia, especially since the emergence of Markko Märtin, who rose to become one of the world's top drivers before ending his career after a tragic accident that killed his codriver. Some of the greatest drivers and races are also held just next door, in Finland.

Rally Estonia, held in the surroundings of the hilly southern town of Otepää, takes place this year from July 19-20. The event is a stage in the Estonian, Latvian, Baltic and NEZ championships, as well as in the FIA European Historic Sporting Rally Championship.

SEB 31st Tartu Running Marathon sets new records

31^st edition of SEB Tartu Jooksumaraton (cross country running race) takes place on this Sunday, on the 12^th of May 2013. The standings state that there are in total of 4352 people registered to the marathon which is already 300 people more than last year altogether, informed BC Marketing and Communication from Club Tartu Maraton Greete Kempel.

SEB Tartu running marathon offers 10 and 23 km distances, one can also choose between running and Nordic walking.

2278 people are registered to the 23 km distance running, 23 km Nordic walking has 243 enrolled persons. 10 km running distance has 1319 participants, Nordic walking 512. There are altogether 2560 men and 1792 women from 13 different countries registered to the event. Registration is open until 11^th of May 5 pm.

Race director Kunnar Karu: “The big number of enrolled people shows that Tartu running marathon has proved itself as the biggest cross country running event in the Baltic States. We are happy that our event is popular among Estonians and foreign participants as well and I hope that this year we will see altogether 4000 finishers for the first time in the history of the event marathon.”

Karu also adds that the course is in a good condition, but as the event takes place on landscape, not asphalt it is important to do the appropriate preparations. Course master of Club Tartu Maraton has his hands full of work this week – the race course has to be marked, muddy places have to be filled with chopped wood etc in order to prepare the best emotions for the participants.

Estonia hopes to send 25-30 athletes to Sochi Olympics

The Estonian Olympic Committee signed on Thursday the invitation of the International Olympic Committee for participation at the Sochi Olympics where EOC hopes to send 25-30 athletes, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

By now, Estonia has secured 9 places in the biathlon competitions and 2 in figure skating. "As of today, we count on sending 25-30 athletes," said EOC president Neinar Seli.

Since the games take place in complicated conditions, the preparations can be more expensive than planned, for example due to mountain training camps. "Athletes and background crew shouldn’t be worried since the budget for their preparations is covered" said Seli.

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, will be celebrated from 7 to 23 February 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Northern Europe's most modern motor racing track opened in Estonian Audru

Northern Europe's most modern motor racing track opened in Audru parish, Pärnuma county, South West Estonia on Saturday; it cost 6 million euros to build, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

The racing track has long-term traditions there but the plans to build a modern racing venue there were started 20 years ago, and only the third developer, A2 Racing led by Andres Hall managed to complete it.

Estonian Autosport Association president Ari Vatanen said that a very good racing track has been built. "I am seriously proud that Estonia has the most modern racing track in this part of Europe," he said.

The Auto24 racing track manager Anders Hall said that they started developing the project in 2009. Enterprise Estonia allocated 3.2 million euros of EU funds but private investors were also a very big support.

The track is located 8 km away from the city of Pärnu. All summer weekends are already booked for competitions and other events.

Estonian ice hockey team returns defeated and drunk

The Estonian ice hockey team lost all of its games at the Ice Hockey World Championships, falling back to Division II as a result, but that's not why they have been called a national embarrassment. Upon arrival at Tallinn Airport on Sunday, some of the team members were so intoxicated after a week of drinking that they could not stand up.

Estonia competed in the Division I, Group B tournament (with Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Ukraine) in Donetsk, Ukraine from April 14-20, reported Delfi. The final game, with Lithuania, which had also lost all of its previous games, was decisive, because the losing team would be sent back to division II. Estonia suffered a crushing 3-12 defeat (1-1, 2-3, 0-8).

One reason Estonia wasn't on top of its game was that part of the team was busy partying. A number of men were benched as a result, including 33-year-old Maksim Ivanov, from Estonia's top club, Viking Sport, who especially angered the Estonian Ice Hockey Association.

The head of the association, Jaan Mölder, said a disciplinary committee would be called together and "serious decisions" would need to be taken. Head coach Dmitri Medvedev said that if he is kept on, there would be no place for Ivanov on the team. He said he was not yet sure about the others.

A number of foreign club players did preserve their dignities, officials said, with Robert Rooba of Finland's Espoo Blues saying he would not play for the team again if matters continue the same way.

Margus Hunt, the NFL Draft's craziest athlete

There are some exceptional prospects in the NFL draft every year, but Southern Methodist University defensive end Margus Hunt is one of the craziest in recent memory. Not literally crazy, but he makes you wonder if he's from the same planet as everyone else.

Hunt's from the same planet (probably), but not the same country. He came to America from Estonia, originally to pursue a career in track and field. He won gold medals as a junior Olympian in the discus and shot put, and he also plays the piano. He'll be 26 years old by the time the season starts—Hunt is truly a rarity among NFL prospects.

He also possesses an out-of-this-world combination of size and athleticism, measuring in at 6’8” and 277 pounds at the combine. Hunt ran the 40-yard dash in 4.60 seconds and had 38 reps on the bench press. To put that in perspective, Hunt ran the 40-yard dash as fast as the 248-pound linebacker Dion Jordan and had the same number of reps on the bench press as the 311-pound defensive tackle Star Lotulelei.

Foreign-born players are always interesting because they typically haven’t been playing the game for very long. In Hunt’s case, he’s been playing football for only the last four years. No one expects a guy who has been playing football for only a few years to have refined technique, but Hunt’s height makes any problems he has more glaring.

Kanepi marks return with Katowice win

KATOWICE - Sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia marked her return from an injury with a dominating first-round victory Tuesday at the inaugural Katowice Open.

Kanepi, who missed time while recovering from an Achilles injury, looked smooth in her 6-1, 6-1 rout of Polish wild card Sandra Zaniewska indoors at Spodek Arena. The news wasn't as good for pair of other seeded players, however.

Fourth-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany was knocked off by 38-year-old American qualifier Jill Craybas 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 4-1, while No. 5 Alize Cornet of France fell in an upset to Slovakian qualifier Anna Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-0.

Other winners in Tuesday's second day of action included Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, who overcame France's Mathilde Johansson 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, and Luxembourg's Mandy Minella, who rallied to defeat Serbia's Vesna Dolonc 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Scientists stick by Veerpalu

TALLINN - A team of Tartu University Ph.D.s disclosed the results of a 1.5-year long study on the scandalous doping case of Estonian double Olympic gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu, ahead of a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to postpone again a ruling in the case, reports ERR. They said their test showed that the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) test was unreliable.

“Of course, there will always be some margin of error - even the WADA officials will not argue with that. But the question is how big that margin of error is in the given test. We believe that WADA’s alleged low margin of error is utterly false. My clear message is that, in the course of this case, prohibited substances have not been found in Andrus Veerpalu’s blood [samples],” Sulev Koks, a professor of physiology at the University of Tartu, told ERR radio.
The court did not give any explanation for the postponement. Officials hypothesized that the delay may have been related to it being preoccupied with the current Skiing World Championships, or needing to still gather more information on the Veerpalu case.

The retired cross country skiing hero’s attorney, Aivar Pilv, guessed that the court needs more time for analysis, mainly due to questions raised by the Estonian researchers.
“This will shape the principles for the years coming,” said Pilv. “Clearly our group of researchers from the University of Tartu [...] have done a very thorough and analytical work, raised many questions and referred to many problems. We think that the questions raised by the researchers are the reason that the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] needs so much time for thinking,” he said.

Kiiking : Estonia's extreme swing set

Remember when we were kids playing on the swing set and we'd try to swing so high that we'd fly over the top bar and come down the other side? No, I never made it either. But in Estonia, they've taken a childhood dream and made it an extreme sport.

It's called kiiking. Using a special swing with steel arms instead of chains, the kiiker stands on the swing and pumps back and forth until he or she gets enough momentum to make a full 360-degree turn. The best kiikers can go around several times. The longer the shaft of the swing, the harder it is, and according to the "Guinness Book of World Records," the record for kiiking is with a 7.02-meter (23-foot) swing used by Andrus Aasamäe of Estonia on August 21, 2004.

Kiiking has taken off in the Baltic states and in Scandinavia. Here we show a video of the Estonian army taking a little time off from defending the nation to practice kiiking.

Sean McLachlan

Tartu marathon entries reach 25-year high

Registration for the 42nd Tartu Marathon set a 25-year record today well ahead of the February 17 ski event.

A total of 8,300 participants from 28 countries have signed up for the marathon, which has a 63-kilometer and 31-kilometer race, the first being the more popular of the two, organizers said. Twenty-one percent of participants will be first-timers in the event, which is a stage in the FIS Marathon Cup (FMC).

Among the top contenders will be Anders Aukland of Norway, currently leading the FMC 2013 and a two-time winner of the Tartu Marathon. Jerry Ahrlin of Sweden, also a two-time winner, and Stanislav Rezac of the Czech Republic, a one-time victor, will also be in the race.

Raul Olle has so far been the only male to win the marathon on three occasions.

In the women's lineup, Sandra Hansson of Norway is seeking a fourth win.

Falcons Draft Spotlight : Margus Hunt, the pass-rusher from... Estonia?

Introducing a new series of posts that will spotlight one aspiring NFL player who could become a member of the Atlanta Falcons next April. Today's player: Margus Hunt.

Fakshemash, Falcoholics!

My name-a Alec Shirkey, long-time reader and first-time official poster. I'm a devoted Falcons, Braves and Dawgs fan, an aspiring sports journalist and an opinionated football enthusiast. You may have read some of my musings over at SB Nation Atlanta, or perhaps my overly-dramatic reactions on Twitter (@AShirkey). Maybe you haven't, in which case prepare yourself: it could get bumpy.

Suffice it to say, I'm real excited about joining the writing ranks of The Falcoholic. Hopefully the hazing isn't too unbearable (looking at you, Dave), though I'll admit I'm no stranger to the beer funnel.

With introductions out of the way, let's get started with our big Estonian friend Margus Hunt, whom Mel Kiper has going to the Falcons in his first mock draft of 2013:

Position: DE
School: SMU
Projection: Late 1st / early 2nd round
Measurables: 6'8, 280 lbs. Rumored to run a 4.7 sec 40-yard dash.
Comparable to: J.J. Watt (if we're being really optimistic)

Stats (2012): 31 tackles, 8.0 sacks, 11.5 TFL, 11 QB hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass deflections, three blocked kicks.

31 km distance of Tartu Maraton is almost booked

The 42^nd edition of Tartu Maraton will take place in less than a month, on the 17^th of February 2013. Statistics of the 22^nd of January say that there are overall 7200 people enrolled to the marathon meaning that right now there are already almost 1100 people more enrolled than at the same time last year and registration continues.

Shorter, 31 km distance has capacity to host up to 2000 participants of which 1500 places are already filled.

“If we take a look at the activity of the registration, it is highly likely that places for 31 km distance will be sold out before the day of the race,” says Indrek Kelk, the race director and explains that limitations are set up in order to guarantee safety on the course: “63 km and 31 km distance will be united 3 km after the start of 31 km distance and in order to regulate the intensity on the course, the limitation of 2000 was set.” Kelk also adds that the active registration might be due to the fact that winter came early this year giving all the skiers a good chance to pick up their trainings early.

Today Tartu Maraton has enrolled participants from 28 countries of which 5839 are male and 1361 female.

Early bird discount lasts until 27.01, but registration for both distances is possible until 16.02.2013 17.00.

Organisers are ready to host 10 000 skiers on the marathon day. Open Track 63, 31 and 16 races along with 2^nd Tartu Ski Relay and Tervis Pluss 12^th Tartu Maraton Ladie’s Race will bring together over 1000 skiers.

Russia 'A' face Estonia in final

RUSSIA 'A' and Estonia will clash today in the final of the 2012 Kingdom Match Race Sailing Event, being held at the Bahrain Sailing Club near Al Jazayer Beach in Zallaq.

Competing in J24 boats, Russia 'B' defeated host nation Bahrain 'A', while Estonia edged defending champions Russia 'A', setting up a mouth-watering title decider.

Today's final will take place at 9am in a best-of-three race format, to be followed by the prize-distribution ceremony and the closing of the championship from 3pm onwards at the club premises. Skippered by rising sailing hopeful Ebrahim Abdulla, who is seeded in the top 200 sailors in the world ranking, Bahrain 'A' headed into their semi-final race against the Russians hoping to extend their impressive show in the early stages.

But Abdulla's crew, who picked up seven wins from their 10 races, faced a much stronger and experienced team and watched their dreams of winning this competition for the first time go up smoke. Led by the world's 26th ranked sailor Sergey Musikhin, Russia 'B' lived up to many expectations as they stretched their top form performance to book a deserving place in the final.

Later on, Estonia made it past Russia 'A' in one of the competition's most exciting races to set up their final showdown against another Russian team. Former Bahrain event winner and world's 24th ranked sailor Mati Sepp, who holds the highest ranking in the championship, skippered his Estonian crew to a hard-fought victory against an experienced Russian skipper Andrea Arbozov and his crew.

It’s snow joke for Estonia

RIGA - Estonia’s Under 17 national football team will have to wait until Nov. 10 to see if they can qualify for the 2013 UEFA Under 17 championships elite round as their match against Wales on Oct. 26 was abandoned after 26 minutes due to a blizzard in Tallinn.

Rather than collecting Horse Chestnuts and brightly colored autumn leaves, last weekend’s weather better suited snowball fights as a week of key international qualifying matches and domestic championship games were seriously disrupted by snow and ice. With a winter cyclone dumping up to 40 centimeters of snow in some places in the Baltic States, the Estonian Football Federation hosted a week-long series of qualifying matches for the 2013 UEFA Under 17 championships, involving the national teams of Estonia, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Mercifully, the inclement weather did not arrive until the end of the week, by which time Northern Ireland had defeated Wales 4-0 in Kadriorg, and Estonia had failed to overcome a strong England team as they went down 2-0 in Tallinn against a squad that included Manchester United and Chelsea youth team players. The England goals on this occasion coming from Everton’s George Green and Reise Collier of Crystal Palace.

Sébastien Loeb and Citroën

Sébastien Loeb (French pronunciation: [sebastjɛ̃ lœb]; born 26 February 1974) is a French rally driver driving for the Citroën World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He has won the world championship a record nine times in a row, and also holds several other WRC records, including most points, wins and podium finishes.

Originally a gymnast, Loeb switched to rallying in 1995 and won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. Signed by the Citroën factory team for the 2002 season, he and co-driver Daniel Elena took their debut WRC win that same year at the Rallye Deutschland. After finishing runner-up to Petter Solberg by one point in 2003, Loeb took his first drivers' title in 2004. Continuing with Citroën, he went on to take a record ninth consecutive world title in 2012. Loeb is a tarmac expert, having won all but three WRC rallies on that surface since 2005.

Besides his success in rallying, Loeb is a three-time winner at the Race of Champions, after taking home the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and the title "Champion of Champions" in 2003, 2005 and 2008. In 2004, he won the Nations' Cup for France with Jean Alesi. In 2006, he finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Loeb was named the French Sportsman of the Year in 2007 and 2009, and made knight of the Legion of Honour (Légion d'honneur) in 2009. In 2012, he won the Rallycross final in his first appearance at X Games XVIII.

..............................

Loeb began his 2012 season by beating Mini's Dani Sordo to a record sixth win in the Monte Carlo Rally. He also secured the maximum points by recording the fastest time for the power stage. In Sweden, after hitting a snowbank on stage seven, Loeb was forced out of the fight for the number one spot. He finished sixth and gained three extra points by again winning the power stage. Loeb took his second victory of the season at the Rally Mexico, ahead of his new teammate Mikko Hirvonen. In Portugal, he crashed out from third place on the night stages of the first day, after misunderstanding a pacenote. The Rally Argentina was dominated by the Citroëns and Loeb drove to his 70th WRC victory. At the Acropolis Rally in Greece, he cruised to an easy win after Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg ran into several problems and dropped out of contention.

In July, Loeb debuted in the X Games in Los Angeles, facing his old rival Marcus Grönholm. Grönholm was hospitalised due to an accident in practice, and Loeb won the rallycross gold medal well ahead of Ken Block. He went on to continue his WRC win streak in New Zealand and in Finland, where he edged out Hirvonen to take his third win in the event. This marked the fourth double win in a row for the Citroën duo. After beating Latvala to the win in Germany, Loeb finished second to the Finn at the Wales Rally GB, after a tight battle for the position with Solberg.

Talented amateurs shine in first Tartu marathon

Tartu's first ever city marathon provided a change of pace from globalization and international pros as the event was won by an Estonian runner competing in his first full 42.195 km footrace. The winner,  Dmitri Aristov, finished with a time of 2:32:46.

Raivo Alla came in second in the Saturday race with a time of 2:35:56 and Ivar Ivanov finished third with 2:37:34.

The top female finisher was Annika Vaher with 3:12:22. Also unusual for a marathon was the fact that Aristov found himself running alone by kilometer 14.

Some 550 runners registered for the inaugural edition of the marathon. Before this year, the "Tartu marathon" has been identified primarily with the winter long-distance ski race; there was also a 23-km Otepaa-to-Elva running race.

Wozniacki wins KDB Korea Open

SEOUL — Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat injury-plagued Kaia Kanepi 6-1, 6-0 Sunday to win the KDB Korea Open.

Wozniacki from Denmark needed only about one hour to defeat the third-seeded Kanepi of Estonia to win the tournament on Seoul's Olympic Park hard courts. It was Wozniacki's 19th career WTA victory.

She defeated Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the semifinals while Kanepi advanced the finals after beating Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

 © 2012, The Associated Press

2242 children took part in the world´s biggest mountain bike marathon for children in Estonia

The weekend of SEB 15th Tartu Rattamaraton (MTB marathon) started with the children´s races, which is the world´s biggest mountain bike marathon event for children. 2242 children aged from under 3-year-olds to 11-year-olds and older came together in Tartu and enjoyed sports.

„Sport is good for us to warm our body up,“ said a 4-year-old girl Betti, who had come to the children´s events despite the rainy weather, reports BC Club Tartu Maraton.

Aigar Leok, who has stood on the podium in both the Enduro World Championship and the Motocross World Championship, said: „You can see that children enjoy it. Families come here and I also took my family with me. It is the first time for me and my 11-months-old son to participate in Club Tartu Marathon´s children´s events – and definitely not the last time.“ Aigar Leok also gave autographs and represented his new bike.

Every child who participated got a golden medal and a diploma, because Club Tartu Marathon believes that every child is a winner. In addition there was a raffle for prizes from the partners of Club Tartu Marathon.

Tartu MTB Marathon´s children´s races was the last stage of the Tartu Mini Complex Event, which consists of 4 different sports events for children: skiing, cycling, running and mountain bike marathon. Before today´s race 642 children had participated in the previous three stages of the Tartu Mini Complex Event 2012. Children, who have completed the whole Tartu MINI Complex Event 2012 are congratulated on October 7th when a party is organized for them in Tartu.

Crawford, unseeded, wins junior girls title

Unseeded Samantha Crawford of Atlanta won the 2012 United States Open Junior Girls’ Championship on Sunday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

After a shaky beginning, in which both players traded service breaks and unforced errors, Kontaveit, 16, opened up a 4-2 lead in the first set, but Crawford soon took control of the match, winning five of the six remaining games of the set with powerful forehand and backhand winners.

“She played so well today,” Kontaveit said, “it was so hard to break her, even though there were a lot of breaks in the first set, she was just serving too well at the end of the set.” Crawford saw the match differently. “I thought she came out playing really well and kind of forced me to play better,” she said.

Kontaveit, seeded 12th, struggled with erratic play, hitting well-placed winners but double-faulting at key moments, five times in the first set and four times in the second. Despite her loss in the final, the Estonian said her quarterfinal defeat of the world’s top-ranked junior, Taylor Townsend of Boca Raton, Fla., had boosted her belief in her ability to compete at the highest level.

Host women strong at Tallinn marathon

Locals swept the women's podium in the Tallinn Marathon on Sunday with a trio of sub-three-hour results, while Kenyans took the top two men's spots.

Evelin Talts finished with a time of 2:45.02, putting her 15th overall, followed by Egle Mätas with a time of 2:57.03 (40th) and Liis-Grete Arro (43rd) with 2:59.15.

Kenyan runner John Kipkemoi Kirui was the fastest male runner with a time of 2:15.21, followed by countryman Hosea Kipkemoi Kiplagat with 2:18.57. Defending Estonian half-marathon champ Viljar Vallimäe was third with a new personal record of 2:21.27.

A record 18,000 runners registered for the event, which included the totals for the full marathon as well as a half-marathon and 10K race.

Kristopher Rikken