Sports Round-Up: Ups, Downs and More Downs
Estonia's top tennis player, Kaia Kanepi, stumbled in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Wednesday, losing to Australian Samantha Stosur in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
Kanepi, ranked ten places lower than her opponent in the WTA, came off second-best in every aspect of the game.
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Double track cycling Olympic gold medalist Erika Salumäe has put up her sporting memorabilia, including her two gold medals, up for sale.
She won her first gold competing for the Soviet Union in Seoul in 1988 and the second under the Estonian tricolor in Barcelona four years later.
The medals and other items will go under the hammer in the beginning of November at the Graham Budd auction house, with the gold medals going for around 12,000 euros each.
Salumäe, who has lived in Spain for the last few years, has refused to talk to the media since the weekly Kroonika reported that her business relationship with former TV anchorwoman Ene Veiksaar was also a romantic one. She later sued and won damages from the weekly.
Postimees speculated today that she needs the money to cover medical expenses, and pointed out that she is not the first Estonian Olympic medalist to sell medals for health reasons, with cyclist Avo Pikkus another such example.
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The national football team was down eleven places in this month's FIFA ranking, falling to 99th place, but is still higher than Lithuania (up nine places to 103) and Latvia (down two places to 117).
The team's highest ranking came in March 2012 after a near-victory over Ireland in the European Championship playoffs. Estonia was then ranked 47th.
The lowest moment was just four years prior to the record, when Estonia was ranked 137th on the list of the world's best national teams, which currently has 209 entries.
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On a more positive note, the national football team has been promoted to the fourth strongest pot for the draw of the 2016 European Championship qualifying teams.
Each qualifying group will have one team from each of the six pots, meaning that Estonia will face two teams who are, theoretically at least, weaker than them.
The 2016 championships will feature 24 teams instead of the traditional 16.
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In the women's Champions League, Pärnu JK improved on its 0-14 defeat to VfL Wolfsburg, losing only 13-0 in the second leg in Germany on Wednesday.