15 September 2008
Champions League finalist Hypo played EHF's Champions Trophy this weekend. In semifinals Austrian Champions defeated EHF Cup winner Larvik 35:31 (12:16). Best scorers for Hypo were Oh with 7 goals and Aćimović with 5.
In thriller match of finals Hypo was defeated by Zvezda Zvenigorod. Russian Champions won with the score 28:27 (14:14). Best scorers for Hypo were Timea Toth and Gorica Aćimović with 7 goals scored.
Seong Ok Oh MVP
Hypo's middle back Seong Ok Oh was awarded prize for the Most Valuable Player of the Champions Trophy tournament.
Andras Nemeth, coach of Hypo, talked to Eurohandball.com about the tournament, preparations and expectations in this season.
Eurohandball.com: What can be expected this season from a team that reached the CL final a few months ago?
András Németh: "The expectation from Hypo is always winning the Champions League. It was the same last year, but there will be many candidates again: 2 or 3 Danish teams, the Russians, Győr and so on..."
Eurohandball.com: And what is the main objective for you?
András Németh: "I would like to stay in the competition until the end. The most important task today is to get the engine running again. The team fell apart during the Olympics and it is difficult for us. We did not have much time yet.
On the other hand, this was not different a year ago. Back then I was new and we had to build a team. Now we have a complete team, we just have to work on the physical condition now."
Eurohandball.com: How did you prepare for the season so far?
András Németh: "We had seven players in Beijing, the other seven were training with us. We had many trainings together with the Hungarian team, Vác.
This season, we will not play Austrian league games. The regional league where we will play is a higher level and it will help us better."
TEXT: www.ehfcl.com