GOALIE - Petr Čech, goalkeeper for the Chelsea soccer club, was named "Player of the Year 2005" in the Czech Republic Feb. 27. In the annual poll of soccer players, coaches and other experts, Čech finished ahead of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Tomáš Rosický and Pavel Nedvěd of Juventus.

MILESTONE - New York Rangers hockey star Jaromír Jágr has reached another milestone in his National Hockey League career. Jágr scored his 1,400th NHL point in the Rangers' 6–1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers March 2. Since joining the NHL, Jágr has scored 579 goals and 821 assists.

HOCKEY - HC Moller Pardubice, the defending champion in the Extraliga hockey league, lost 3–2 to Hamé Zlín in the last game of the regulation season March 9. Pardubice finished ninth in the league's standings and failed to advance to the playoffs.

TIE - The national soccer team tied Turkey 2–2 in a March 1 World Cup warm-up game in Istanbul. The Czechs led 2–0 until the second period but conceded two goals in the final two minutes. The match was the first of the team's four warm-up games before the World Cup in Germany in June.

THREAT - Following her return from the Winter Olympics in Turin in February, speed skater Martina Sáblíková said she might compete for another country if she doesn't get access to better training facilities in the Czech Republic. The 18-year-old finished fourth in the women's 5-kilometer (3-mile) race in Turin despite the fact that there isn't a speed skating rink in this country.

BIRTHDAY - Czech tennis legend Jan Kodeš celebrated his 60th birthday March 1 in Prague. Kodeš is the only Czech to win the Wimbledon men's singles title, which he did in 1973.

COMEBACK - After a two-year absence from professional judo, three-time Olympic champion Tadehiro Nomura made a successful comeback to competition in an international Noris Cup tournament in Prague March 5. Nomura, who won Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996, in Sydney in 2000, and in Athens in 2004, placed first in the men's 60-kilogram (132-pound) class here.

COACH - Czech soccer coach Zdeněk Zeman has been named the new head coach of the Italian second division team Brescia. Zeman earned international recognition several years ago for openly discussing doping problems in Italian soccer.

FAME - Karel Koželuh will become the sixth Czech tennis player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. Koželuh, who died 55 years ago, was the first Czech professional world tennis champion.

RETiREMENT - Jiří Novák has said he will retire from professional tennis after this season. The 31-year-old has struggled with a heel injury that has kept him out of ATP events since last September.

ADVANCED - The Czech women's basketball champion Brno defeated Bourges of France 70–69 in a March 1 Euroleague qualifier and advances to the Final Four tournament in Brno held March 31–April 2. It will be the Czech Republic's first time hosting the Final Four women's basketball event.