The men’s handball national team of Russia will participate in away international tournament for the first time in a long while. Lev Voronin’s wards will be in Iranian Shiraz from 12 to 16 of March, where they will play with the national teams of Belarus, Iran and China.
The day before the flight the head of the coaching staff of the national team of Russia Lev Voronin told Handballfast about the importance of the tournament, tasks and line-up of the Russian team.
— What do you expect from the tournament in Iran?
— Indeed, it’s the first international tournament for a long time, which we hold in the far abroad. Yes, we played in Moscow, Belarusian arenas have already become almost native for us and here is the travel to Iran. And matches with serious rivals. The same national team of Iran performed quite well on the Christmas tournament in Moscow. Thus, this away tournament would be a good international experience for the players of our team.
— What are the difficulties in preparing for the matches in Iran?
— We have personnel problems today. We were getting ready to fly to Iran with a total of 18 players, but, unfortunately, Ivan Shelmenko and Dmitriy Ionov received injuries.
Visas to Iran should be issued in advance and we have no time to make it for the players who could be called to replace them. That is why we’re going to the tournament with a reduced team. Donat Morozov had been injured before.
But we can find a positive side in each negative moment. I hope it will be an additional test of playing qualities and character. Everyone will give 150% of their capability and fight for victory in every match.
— Do you set tournament tasks for the team? Or is gaining experience in international tournaments and viewing the candidates to the national team what matters?
— Based on the fact that we are gathering for the third time and the squad is almost the same, the task is to win. For the first time we gathered and looked at each other, we tried to achieve a result for the second time. Now we have to start winning. We have to raise the ideology of winners.
The national team of Russia:
gk — Denis Zabolotin (Meshkov Brest, Belarus), Dmitriy Koryakin (Dinamo, Astrakhan), Ivan Sharov (Dinamo-Sungul);
lw — Egor Kochura (CSKA);
p — Aleksandr Ermakov, Viktor Furtsev (both from Chekhovskie Medvedi), Nikita Kashnikov (SKIF), Roman Tsarapkin (CSKA);
rw — Ivan Erkanov (Academia), Anatoliy Filippov (SGAU-Saratov);
lb — Kirill Akramov (Chekhovskie Medvedi), Ilya Belevtsov (CSKA);
cb — Aleksandr Arkatov (Dinamo-Sungul), Saveliy shalabanov (SKIF);
rb — Anton Aksyukov (Chekhovskie Medvedi ), Dmitriy Kiselev (Zenit).
Schedule of the tournament in Shiraz
Wednesday, 12 March. Iran — China
Thursday, 13 March. Russia - Belarus
Friday, 14 March. Iran — Belarus
Friday, 14 March. Russia — China
Saturday, 15 March. Belarus — China
Saturday, 15 March. Iran — Russia
Photo: the HFR press
