Franić goes to Krim

23 March 2009

According to Slovenian media Kristina Franić signed for Krim Mercator.

Director of Podravka Vegeta Marijan Domović confirmed that club did not yet talk to Franić about prolongation. Considering the fact her contract with Podravka Vegeta ends this season it is very likely Kristina Franić will join her national team-mate Dijana Golubić in Krim Mercator next season.

TEXT: www.koprivnica.net
PHOTO: www.koprivnica.net

Budućnost signs Szamoransky

23 March 2009

According to www.handball.hu Montenegrin Champions will sign 2-year contract with Piroska Szamoransky (Budapest Bank-FTC-RightPhone).

Hungarian international will take place of Liudmila Mochalina who got pregnant in the beginning of the season. 22-year old line player has 171 cm and 71 kg.

Szamoransky won EHF Cup in 2006, Hungarian Championship in 2005 and 2007. She also won fourth place in Olympics in Beijing 2008 with Hungarian national team.

PHOTO: www.kezilabda.ftc.hu

Hypo in CL semi-finals

23 March 2009

Team of Gunnar Prokop will once again compete amongst four best teams of Europe.

From now on, Hypo Niederösterreich will represent WRHL alone in Champions league, since other three quarterfinalists did not reach semi-finals. Budućnost T-Mobile ended CL competition on fifth, Podravka Vegeta on sixth and Krim Mercator on seventh place.

Hypo Niederösterreich won CL eight times: 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998 and 2000.

Semi-finals of EHF's Champions league:
Hypo Niederösterreich vs. Györ
Oltchim Valcea vs. Viborg

Andrea Lekić - best player of Serbia

21 March 2009

Andrea Lekić (Krim Mercator) is MVP and Ana Đokić (Podravka Vegeta) best pivot of Serbia.

Visitors of www.balkan-handball.com elected best Serbian players in 2008. Andrea Lekić was voted as most valuable player (MVP) and the best middle back. Ana Đokić is the best line player.

21-year old Lekić is first scorer of WRHL with 54 goals and second best scorer of CL with 82 goals.

You can read recent interview with Andrea on: http://www.wrhl.info/20090129133/Newsflash/qwrhl-means-qualityq.html.

PHOTO: www.rkkrim-klub.si

Palčić and Stančin retire

20 March 2009

On recent CL matches Podravka Vegeta said goodbye to last two of their legends.

Pivot Božica Palčić was the last player from team of 1996 when Podravka was Champion of Europe. Born in Koprivnica, Palčić stayed faithful to her first club during entire carrier, retiring with the age of 37. She will continue working in the club.

Barbara Stančin was born in Brežice (Slovenia) and spent last eight years in Podravka Vegeta, retiring with the age of 38. After successful players carrier Stančin became coach of goalkeepers and official representative of Podravka Vegeta on all clubs matches.

PHOTO: www.rk-podravka.hr

Decisive matches coming

18 March 2009

There are only six more matches to be played before proclamation of first WRHL Champion.

Busy schedules of European competitions and domestic leagues were the reasons why clubs were forced to rearrange their timing of last WRHL matches in this season.

Top match will be played on 27th of March (Friday) in Koprivnica. Game Podravka Vegeta vs. Hypo Niederösterreich will begin at 18 hours.

Tough schedule for Ljubuški

Budućnost T-Mobile will host Lokomotiva on Tuesday at 17:45. On the same day Ljubuški Lido osiguranje will host Podravka in Koprivnica at 18 hours. On Wednesday Ljubuški will visit Maria Enzersdorf to play match against Hypo Niederösterreich at 19 hours and on next day (Thursday) team from Bosnia and Herzegovina will host Lokomotiva in Zagreb at 17:30.

Last match of WRHL season 2008/2009 Krim Mercator vs. Lokomotiva will be played in Ljubljana on 31st of March (Tuesday) at 18 hours.

Exciting finish

First four ranked teams on WRHL table are very close - within one single point. It is certain, exciting finish of first WRHL season is guaranteed. Wrhl.info brings you LIVE score update of the match Podravka Vegeta vs. Hypo Niederösterreich from Koprivnica.

Krim focuses on young and talented players

11 March 2009

Director of Krim Mercator Deja Ivanović announced decrease of budget and new policy in signing players.

Regarding recent rumours about new signings, Deja Ivanović said:

“Krim Mercator has started negotiations with new players already in September, but still I can't say more then that. When new players sign, club will inform the media.“

Because of economy problems, some changes will occur:

“I must say we have changed clubs policy regarding buying players. Krim was always buying quality, top players. Now we want young and talented ones who have good perspective in the future.“

Unfortunately, it is certain Krims budget for next season will decrease:

“We are still negotiating with our sponsors. Financial crisis in entire Europe changes situation every month, so it is difficult to say now how much we will need to cut our budget for next season. I believe we will know much more by the end of March. Anyway, it is certain next season we will have to decrease our budget.“

TEXT: www.rkkrim-klub.si
PHOTO: www.rkkrim-klub.si

No worries for Prokop

11 March 2009

Gunnar Prokop, manager of Hypo Niederösterreich, reveals secret of his clubs success. Despite key players are leaving, he is not worried.

“Mr. Hypo” comments excellent results of his team in Champions league:

“Trainings make all the difference. I have feeling that some of the teams of the CL’s second group phase have not been training enough between the two group phases. You should not be satisfied buy reaching a good form in autumn. You have to go on training hard and I think that we have an advantage here.”

He agrees about Hypo and Viborg being favourites for winning CL trophy:

“This would also be my bet: a final between Viborg and Hypo…”

Hypo’s key players will leave at the end of the season - Sabine Englert and Gorica Aćimović. Still, Prokop is not worried:

“I’m sure that we will not be weaker next season as most of the team will stay together. We have a great goalkeeper already and we will also find a good successor for Aćimović. So I don’t really worry.”

TEXT: www.ehfcl.com

Krim on top - Bon satisfied

31 January 2009

First WRHL season is close to an end. At the moment Krim Mercator is on the top of WRHL table and coach Marta Bon is satisfied.

“Match against Podravka was very useful for us because we need to get back to competition rhythm. We were behind almost during entire match and we managed to equalise at the end. That means we improved.“ – said Marta Bon about the match Krim Mercator vs. Podravka Vegeta who finished with result 36:36.

"I am satisfied because we showed once again how good we can play when we play like a team and with concentration. Considering quality of Podravka, we did well. Amra Pandžić and Maja Zrnec returned, so this also makes me happy.“

"It is true we received 36 goals, but also we managed to score 36 goals. Our opponents did not play good in defence, but their goalkeeper saved a lot of shots. This result shows our quality, especially if we have in mind that we have many young players.“ - concluded Bon.

TEXT: www.rkkrim-klub.si
PHOTO: www.rkkrim-klub.si

Podravka Vegeta close to winning WRHL title

31 January 2009

Without five injured players from the first line-up, Budućnost T-Mobile did not have a chance in Koprivnica. Podravka Vegeta defeated Montenegrin Champions 32:26 (17:11).

Name of today’s match winner was known before the game started because Budućnost played without five injured players. Some of them were injured on Wednesday’s match in Vienna. Ambroš, Kindl, Radović, Radičević and Jovanović watched the game from the spectator’s area.

On the other side Podravka Vegeta did not have problems with injured players. As always, coach Zovko gave chance to all his players. Because of that, margin was not so big. Otherwise Budućnost would suffer much serious defeat in Koprivnica.

PODRAVKA VEGETA vs. BUDUĆNOST T-MOBILE 32:26 (17:11)

KOPRIVNICA, Sportska dvorana Gimnazije Frana Galovića. Attendance: 400.
Referees: Christian Kaschutz and Gerhard Reisinger (Austria).

PODRAVKA: Žderić (8), Ungureanu (11+1), Jelčić: Kožnjak 2, Đokić 2, Todorovska 2, Lovrak 1, Zebić 3, Gaće, Franić 8(3), Šerić 3, Pasičnik 1, Bulath 4(1), Tatari, Penezić 6.
Coach: Zdravko Zovko.

BUDUĆNOST: Milenković, Barjaktarović (2), Knezović (6); Miljanić 4, Božović 1, Dragutinović 2, Vlahović, Marković 1, Đurović 2, Grozdanić 2, Lazović 2, Bulatović 5(1), Knežević 7(1).
Coach: G yula Zsiga.

7 M SHOTS: Podravka 4(4), Budućnost 3(2).
2 MIN SUSPENSIONS: Podravka 4 (Šerić 2, Đokić, Tatari), Budućnost T-Mobile  5 (Dragutinović 2, Miljanić, Bulatović, Knežević).

BEST PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Kristina Franić (Podravka Vegeta).

TEXT: www.rk-podravka.hr
PHOTO: www.koprivnica.net