* At the European Volleyball Junior Men's Championship in Kazan, Russia (through September 14):
Russia advanced to the semifinals, beating Poland 3-1 in qualifying Group 1.
Results and group final standings:
Group 1
Slovenia - Belgium - 3:0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13)
Serbia - Ukraine - 3:0 (25-14, 25-16, 26-24)
Poland - Russia - 1:3 (11-25, 21-25, 25-21, 13-25)
1 Russia - 5 games/10 points
2 Slovenia - 5/9
3 Serbia - 5/8
4 Poland - 5/7
5 Belgium - 5/6
6 Ukraine - 5/5
Group 2
1 Italy - 5/10
2 France - 5/9
3 Netherlands - 5/7
4 Slovakia - 5/7
5 Germany - 5/6
6 Bulgaria - 5/6
Semifinal line-ups:
Russia - Slovenia
France - Italy
* At the $500,000 China Open ATP tennis tournament in Beijing (through September 17):
- Igor Kunitsyn failed to advance to the second round, losing to No.8-seed Hyung-Taik Lee (S. Korea) 3-6, 4-6
- Mikhail Ledovskih lost to No.7-seed Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 2-6, 6-7 in the first round