Soccer-Zenit hammer lowly Luch 8-1 to stay in touch

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Champions Zenit St Petersburg hammered lowly Luch Vladivostok 8-1 on Sunday to stay in the hunt for the Russian premier league title.

Portugal international Danny, Zenit's record 30 million euro ($41.57 million) signing from Dynamo Moscow, struck twice in the first period and Turkey striker Fatih Tekke notched a second half hat-trick to power the UEFA Cup holders to their biggest win of the season.

Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin, Roman Shirokov and Argentine forward Alejandro Dominguez were also on target for the St Petersburg side, who moved up to fifth place, 14 points behind leaders Rubin Kazan but with a game in hand.

CSKA Moscow beat struggling FK Khimki 2-1 to record their fifth successive victory and stay in second place, seven points behind Kazan, who thrashed Spartak Nalchik 3-0 on Saturday.

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; editing by Padraic Halpin)