Baku. 26 June. REPORT.AZ/ Schedule of competitions for June 26 at the European Games revealed. Competitions on Fencing, Judo, Boxing, Valleyball, Swimming to be held today. The schedule of competitions are listed below:
Fencing, from 09:00 - Romania and Russia are favourites in the women's team epee and foil, with Romania's European Games epee champion Ana Maria Branza and Russia's foil silver medallist Yana Alborova taking part. But with European Games foil champion Alice Volpi on board, Italy could spoil the party. In the men's team sabre, Romania and Italy have their eye on the top prize.
Throwing their weight around - Judo, from 12:30- Reigning world and European champion Avtandili Tchrikishvili of Georgia competes in the men's -81kg division, while in the women's -63kg category, world and European champion Clarisse Agbegnenou of France will hope to extend her dominance over the rest of the field – she won all 32 of her contests in 2014.
BMX cCcling, from 14:30 - All eyes will be on how well flying Dutchwoman Laura Smulders performs after a long injury lay-off when BMX starts on Friday. The London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist has only raced once at European level since tearing a ligament in her right knee, and she can expect a stiff challenge from Denmark's Simone Christensen, who recently claimed she was the "best European."
Swimming, from 18:35- Russian junior star and European Games multiple gold medallist Arina Openysheva will come up against Dutch 100m freestyle winner Marrit Steenbergen in the 200m freestyle final. On Wednesday, the Russian had not long won her 400m title before diving back in for the 100m, but this time the Dutchwoman will have competed in the 50m freestyle beforehand, so could be the jaded one.
Then there were four Volleyball, from 19:30- The men's semi-finals start with Poland v Bulgaria, but the juciest tie is Germany v Russia. The two teams met in their first pool match back on 14 June, when Russia inflicted Germany's only defeat so far. Since then, Germany have won each of their games 3-0 and will be looking for revenge.