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Poland, Ukraine defiant despite Euro 2012 doubts
WARSAW - The prime ministers of Poland and Ukraine vowed on Monday to
prove the sceptics wrong and make the 2012 European Championship an organisational
triumph after doubts over their readiness to host the championship.
"We are two countries but must try to be one team and together we
will overcome all the obstacles on the road to Euro 2012," Ukrainian
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told a joint news conference with her
Polish counterpart Donald Tusk.
Last month, UEFA president Michel Platini said Poland and Ukraine risked
losing the right to host Euro 2012 if stadiums in their capitals were
not ready. He said UEFA would make a decision on that at a meeting in
France in late September.
Ex-communist Poland and the ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine face a colossal
task upgrading stadiums, building hotels and overhauling infrastructure
including roads and airports if they are to stage their biggest international
event yet.
"We are aware that there are countries interested in us failing and
the only succesful rebuke to that will be better coordination and solidarity
in our actions," Tusk said.
Eight venues have been selected to host matches -- Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw
and Gdansk in Poland and Kiev, Donetsk, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine.
Polish sports officials have said Poland, which is richer and more developed
than Ukraine, could provide six of the venues required if its eastern
neighbour was not ready in time.
Patryk Wasilewski
Football.uk.reuters.com,
14 Jul 2008
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