Ski Festival to be held in Barnaul on Sunday.

BARNAUL, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Five tons of spice cakes and 30,000
pancakes were cooked for participants in the Ski Festival to be held in
Barnaul on Sunday, a spokesman for the Altai territorial sports
administration told Itar-Tass.
According to the spokesman, this year the traditional ski race, which
has been held in Barnaul for 15 years, coincides with the Russian Ski
Track-2010 nationwide mass ski race.
"In the majority of Russian regions, the race was held on February 14,
but we had to postpone it because of severe frosts. Virtually, this winter
people did not ski at all, so we want to give such an opportunity to
thousands of those willing to go in for skiing. The program of
competitions includes only one lap of four kilometers, and then people
will just enjoy skiing as such," head of the sports administration
Vladimir Alt said, adding that some 30,000 amateur skiers are expected to
take part in the ski festival.
Prizes for winners will include caps of the colours of the Russian
flag, a refrigerator, SHF ovens and other household appliances. A total of
five million roubles were spent by sponsors to finance the event.
Among participants will be renown athletes from Altai Yaroslava
Cherdantseva and Elena Serokhvostova, and world, Europe and Russia
champion in ski racing among the visually impaired Tatiana Ilyuchenko.

.Elena Isinbaeva of Russia wins Stars of Pole Vaulting competition.

DONETSK, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Elena Isinbaeva of Russia won the
21sth international tournament Stars of Pole Vaulting in Donetsk, Ukraine
on Saturday, clearing the height of 4.85 meters.
Isinbaeva joined in the competition at the point where the majority of
competitors fell out of the race, 4.7 meters, and cleared the bar on the
first try. After she cleared 4.85 meters, she attempted to set a new
indoor world record of 5.01 meters but failed.

.Brzezinski warns against strike at Iran nuclear facilities.

NEW YORK, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The United States and Israel must by
all means avoid any armed strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities,
former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said in an
interview with the Wall Street Journal.
According to Brzezinski, if it happens, Tehran would not care who is
to blame, Americans or Israelis. It will strike back in Afghanistan, Iran,
in the Strait of Hormuz. If an armed conflict breaks out, prices for
energy resources would sky rocket, which would affect the United States
and China, while only Russians would stand to gain, he said.
If events turn this way, the United States would find itself in a
deeper international isolation than Iran, he noted.

.Russia to choose Eurovision-2010 contender on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will choose its representative
to the Eurovision-2010 song contest on Sunday.
The finals will start at 21:00 Moscow time and will be televised on
Russia 1 channel.
The viewers will choose its contender from among 25 finalists of the
national selection contest by viewers. The voting will be carried through
SMS messages and over the phone.
Among competitors will be renown singers, such as Alexander Panaiotov
and Petr Nalich's group, and novel performers, such as the groups Alaska,
Scenacardia, Nano, Los Devchatos, singer Elena Esenina, and others.
One of the shocker groups will be Buranovskie Babushki from Izhevsk
consisting of women of seventy years of age and older. The group, enjoying
wide popularity among the youth, sings folklore and pop songs in the
Udmurt language. The group's repertory includes songs by Viktor Tsoi,
Boris Grebenshchikov and the Beatles.
The Eurovision-2010 contest will be held on May 25 through 29 in
Norway. Russia joined the contest in 1994 and won Eurovision-2008 when
singer Dima Bilan performed the song Believe me.
In 2009, Moscow welcomed the contest, although its representative
Anastasia Phikhodko finished 11th. The contest was won by Alexander Rybak
of Norway with the song Fairy Tale.
Eurovision-2010 will be held in Europe's biggest roofed stadium
Telenor Area housing 23,000 people.
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