Sports roundup: comeback edition with rally and football
Besides the Tartu Marathon, where in the men's results Estonia returned to the podium after a nine-year hiatus, Estonian sportsmen showed fighting spirit in the World Rally Championships and in football.
Estonia's best rally driver since Marko Märtin, Ott Tänak finished fourth in the Swedish rally, climbing steadily higher through-out the 21 stages.
“We had trouble in the beginning, but ended in a good place and that is great for the future,” Tänak said, adding that he will be ready to "shift to the next gear" in a few rallies.
Tänak had a decent first stage, but suffered some setbacks after that. He found more stability from the sixth stage on, coming second in stage 17. Fourth place is Tänak's second-best finish ever, after third place in Italy in 2012.
The Swedish rally was the second in the championship, where Tänak currently holds seventh place.
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FC Flora showed spirit the team sorely missed during the league run last year, beating Skonto FC of Latvia 4-3, after trailing 0-3 at halftime.
Flora began the fight back on the 61st minute through Rauno Sappinen, with Andre Forlov adding one more five minutes later. Nikita Baranov (81st minute) and Joseph Saliste (82nd minute) brought the teams level and gave Flora the win in Latvia on Saturday.
Flora has won nine Estonian league titles since 1991 while Skonto won an impressive 14 titles in a row in Latvia in the years up to 2004, and one later on in 2010. Skonto was second last year while Flora lost its last game in the Estonian league and fell to third.
Editor: J.M. Laats