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Czech tennis number one Jiri Novak reached the semi-final of the Paris Masters, in what he describes as the second best season of his career. In football, a record crowd at Banik Ostrava saw the league leaders go six points clear of nearest rivals Sparta, who lost to bogey team Zlin, and Czech internationals have been in the news around Europe. Czech ice hockey league leaders Pardubice won their first game after five outings, and legendary goaltender Dominik Hasek is going through a difficult period at the moment.

The Czech tennis number one, Jiri Novak, has reached the third round of the Paris Masters tournament, in which he is seeded 14th. Reigning Czech football champions Sparta are slowly catching up on league leaders Banik Ostrava, while former Sparta man Jiri Jarosik has become the first Czech to win a Russian league title.

Among today's headlines in sport: Ostrava Banik remain unbeaten in the Czech first division / Football side Olomouc blanks Slavia at home for first time in 8 years / Hockey goalie Hasek notches first shutout of the season / Czechs help Ottawa Senators trounce Montreal / Koukal achieves career high in 15 km cross-country skiing freestyle sprint.

Sparta Prague beats Besiktas Istanbul 2-1 in the Champions League. Czechs are doing well at Swiss Indoor championship. Latest ice hockey Extraliga results.

In today's edition: Teplice edge Kaiserslautern in UEFA Cup / Damkova makes history as first Czech female ref in First Division / Koller scores twice in Bundeslige match / Berger sinks former team in Premier League / Hasek soft in first NHL loss this year / Jagr comes away without a point in back-to-back weekend losses

Slavia Prague have reached the second round of the UEFA Cup after beating Sartid Smederovo of Serbia 4:2 on aggregate. The Czech Under 21s got a tough draw in the play-offs for the European Under 21 Champions: they play Switzerland over two legs next month. Dagmar Damkova will this weekend become only the second woman in Europe to be the main referee in a men's first division game. In tennis, Martina Navratilova is - at 47 - to play for the United States Fed Cup team and Jiri Novak has reached the third round of the Madrid Masters.

The Czech national football team have now extended their unbeaten run under coach Karel Brueckner to 18 games, with a 3:2 win over Austria on Saturday. The Under 21s also beat Austria to secure a place in the play-offs for their European Championships. In ice hockey, Hasek and Jagr are doing well in the NHL while Slavia Prague have beaten Pardubice in a replay of last season's play-offs final series. And Prague - the only candidate - has withdrawn its bid to host the 2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships.

Young Czech football star Milan Baros has a broken leg and will miss Saturday's international against Vienna. However, Baros has joined his team-mates in Prague and tells us why he thinks the Czechs are doing so well, how happy he is to see his old club Ostrava on top of the Czech league and how important it is for him to have another Czech player at his club, Liverpool. We also have news of rising Czech ice hockey star Jiri Hudler and Czech tennis number one, Jiri Novak, whose season is ending poorly.

The Czech football squad have been seriously depleted for their game against Austria on Saturday. One of the six players who are unavailable, Vladimir Smicer, says he doesn't recall a time when so many regulars were unavailable. In the Czech league, Ostrava are still in front after drawing with Jablonec, while Slavia Prague took three points and a bloodied keeper away from their game in Teplice. And in the ice hockey Prague derby, Sparta came from 2:0 down to draw with Slavia.

Sparta Prague were unfortunate not to take all three points from Lazio away in the Champions League on Wednesday night; after leading 2:0 at half-time the Czech champions conceded two goals in the second half and had to settle for a draw. Elsewhere, Czech national captain Pavel Nedved again proved he is one of the best players in the world as he scored two goals to rescue his club Juventus. Meanwhile, Strasbourg's Vaclav Drobny has tested positive for morphine and the troubled Jan Simak is receiving treatment for nervous exhaustion after doing