The head of the Handball Federation of Russia Sergey Shishkarev shared his opinion in the interview to Sport Express on the recent matches of the women’s Russian national team in Astrakhan.
— Astrakhan is one of the main handball centers of our country. It was Astrakhan where we knew that we would participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016! Though we didn’t assume at that moment that we would win the gold medals in Brazil, but it so happened that the Astrakhan land became the first brick in building that great golden team, that brought so much joy to Russians.
The younger team played in Astrakhan now, which already has its own stars, primarily Varvara Semina. The coaching staff of the national team rejuvenated the line-up a little bit, providing the opportunity to express for those who was in the shadows yesterday. Anyway, we count on absolutely all the strongest athletes. As soon as we return to the international arena, no one will look at the age or past achievements — the best athletes will arrive to the national team immediately. Russian sportsmen remarkably manifest themselves in Europe. Daria Dmitriyeva, Anna Vyakhireva, Kira Trusova, Valeria Maslova are at the leading roles in serious clubs. Polina Gorshkova and Valeria Kirdyasheva will join them next season. From the one hand, I completely understand their desire to play in European Cups, on the other hand, the Russian League is also an interesting and decent tournament now to progress, — Sergey Shishkarev said.
Photo: the HFR press
