Top Stories

Salomäki: Uralica Faring Very Well

CHEBOKSARY, CHUVASHIA, URALICA - If Jarkko Salomäki has anything to say about it, Uralica's going down the right path at the moment.

A recent (and rather lengthy) interview with our nation's leader has revealed how pleased he is at the direction the country he and several others founded is going.

"Our economy is booming at the moment," he started. "With the price of silver up globally and demand for non-metallic minerals always high, that means more work for the people. Uralica's five largest companies have increasing stock. Bolak Corp. in particular is the largest and most valuable mining and industrial company in the entire Former Soviet Union. But what's even more impressive is the fact that the owners of that company aren't spending all their money on themselves, or hoarding it. They're very generous people. Always looking for ways to help out in society. They created 500 new jobs in Yoshkar-Ola recently to try to help lower the higher-than-average unemployment in the city. Most of the stuff they do there is manufacturing.

With improved wealth of the citizens comes the ability to be a 'lender to the nations' which is what we're in the process of gearing up for. A new hi-tech movement in our economy means that we can manufacture technology for TOOL nations. Solikamsk-Berezniki, Arkhangel'sk, Kirov, and even Syktyvkar are getting in on the act. It's very encouraging.

Our newer cities have tremendous potential. Yekaterinburg is pretty obvious. Bolak Corp was in there pretty fast getting new jobs set up for the mineral industry and for manufacturing. Cheboksary has a pretty good industrial section, it just needs a few upgrades is all. Cherepovets and Vologda could be new centres for hi-tech. And Nizhny Tagil is fairly close to mining opportunities.

Tourism is actually up quite a bit. Heh, everyone wants to visit Syktyvkar these days, but also Kirov, Y-burg, Yoshie (Yoshkar-Ola), heck, even Naryan-Mar! Seems people like those 'Polar Bear Wilderness Tours' they offer there! And yes, Pazhga as well. The Church Of The Resurrection has already drawn some pretty big crowds. It really is a beautiful building, and a testimony to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ towards His people here in the Ural-Volga region. When people think of Uralica, usually these things come to mind - Music, Languages, Christians, Churches, Mining, Soccer, and Cross-Country Skiing.

Was in Cheboksary most of the last ten days with the Chuvash conference, but before that I took a run up to Ukhta coz there was a Pelastus concert on that night. They had inline cross-country skiing happening at Ukhta Park. Skis with wheels. Whooda thunk it? What's the difference you ask? Slightly longer poles, and they have this special kind of rubber at the end of them, that grips concrete and asphalt very well. Anyway, I strapped on a pair and went for a spin. I had knee pads and elbow pads on though. Taking a spill on concrete is much more painful than taking a spill on snow!

Back to Uralica though, yeah, things are looking up. With the amount we're producing at the moment, we'll be able to start sending aid packages out to needy TOOL members in no time. I think everyone's upbeat about the direction we're going in."

Sports

Kolmonen All Set, Kanslerinkilpi Preliminary Draw Set Up

TRAKT, KOMILAND, URALICA - At the headquarters of Uralikan Palloliitto in Trakt, the final preparations were made for the 2010 season. An invitation was sent out to all teams within Uralica's "cap area" - including Karelia, Khantia-Mansia, Murmansk Oblast, Mordovia, and Yamalia, which are not yet in Uralica - so that they could play in the league system. All of said invitees will play in the Kolmonen next season, save one - Mordovia Saransk was promoted into the Kakkonen West at the expense of Dvina Novodvinsk, so that the UPL could balance out the numbers of teams in the eight divisions, which have 24 teams apiece.

The setup is as follows:

Feeding the Kakkonen West:

Kolmonen A - "Karelia-Sapmi," covering the Karelian Isthmus, Old Russian Karelia, and Murmansk Oblast.

Kolmonen B - "Vologda-Arkhangel'sk" - covering Vologda, Cherepovets, and Arkhangel'sk-Severodvinsk UAs, West Uralica, Northwest Uralica, Komiland, and Kotlas counties (Note: Tsementnik Emva is an exception, owing to lack of room)

Kolmonen C - "Southwestern Uralica" - covering Woodlands, Mari El, and Chuvashia counties, and also Mordovia.

Kolmonen D - "Kirov-Syktyvkar" - covering Kirovski Rayon and Mennoland counties, and Kirov and Syktyvkar UAs

Feeding the Kakkonen East:

Kolmonen E - "Udmurtiya" - covering North and South Udmurtiya counties and Izhevsk UA

Kolmonen F - "Permski Rayon" - covering the county of the same name, plus Perm' UA

Kolmonen G - "Southeast Uralica" - covering the county of the same name, plus Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Tagil UAs

Kolmonen H - "Northeast Uralica" - covering Nenetsia-North Uralica, Northeast Uralica, Pechora, Central Uralica, East Uralica, and Kudymkar Circle counties, and Berezniki-Solikamsk and Ukhta-Sosnogorsk UAs

All regular teams are entered into the main draw for the Kanslerinkilpi, which goes in March. However, reserve teams are put under the microscope - the reserve teams from the eight best teams are put into the main draw, but those remaining are put into a draw for a series of knockout matches to determine which other eight enter, since this would bring the number to an even 256, enough for five rounds before the quarterfinals.

This draw is to be done on 8 October, although the matches themselves are not played until the week before the March main draw.

The involved teams:

FK Kotlas Akademiya

Khimik-II Koryazhma

Lokomotiv-II Kotlas

TTK-II

UJK-Reservit

CSKA-II Syktyvkar

CSKVC-II Kirov

FK Kirov-II

FK Syktyvkar-II

Krylya Uralikov-II Glazov

FK Inta-II

FK Ukhta-II

FK Vorkuta-II

Metafraks-II Gubakha

Transit-II Sosnogorsk

Zavod Ural-II Solikamsk

TODAY'S SCORES

Ykkönen Promotion Playoffs

Semifinals

ÖPK 2 Pechora 2 (ÖPK wins 5-3 in penalty shootout)

Bumazhnik S. 0 CSKVC Kirov 3

Final

ÖPK vs. CSKVC Kirov, 8 October 2009, Syktyvkar Stadion, Syktyvkar

Liga Mundo

SiPS vs. Jekerger FC (in progress at press time)