Good and spectacular play will take us to Denmark

Belarusian handballers reach European Championship finals after tough struggle
By Dmitry Baranovsky

Yuri Shevtsov’s squad have beaten one of the leading teams — from Iceland, playing at Minsk’s Sports Palace. Neither team had an ideal line-up, with the Icelandic squad missing several of its top players. The Belarusian team had also suffered ‘losses’ — including the world’s highest-paid player, Spanish Barcelona’s Sergey Rutenko. Belarus claimed victory nevertheless, with Boris Pukhovsky stepping into Sergey’s role, having done much to ensure the sensational rise of Minsk SKA this season. Scoring nine goals, he was supported by Dmitry Kamyshkin, who contributed another four. Vitaly Cherepenko in goal helped the squad take the lead by halftime, and the score stood at 29:23 by the final whistle. Certainly, the opposition put up a good fight, making it a tough match. Boris is to spend next season in the Hungarian Championship but is currently playing for the national team.

The win didn’t automatically guarantee Belarus a place at the European Championship finals, with the squad needing to avoid defeat by Slovenia. Luckily, it was a reasonable draw and greatly preferable to playing Austria or Russia, in the parallel group. From the first minutes of the match in Ljubljana, Belarus took the lead, enjoying an easier victory.

The finals of the EHF Euro 2014 will see the 16 best European national teams competing from 12th to 26th January 2014, in Danish Copenhagen, Aalborg, Aarhus and Herning.

The win didn’t automatically guarantee Belarus a place at the European Championship finals, with the squad needing to avoid defeat by Slovenia. Luckily, it was a reasonable draw and greatly preferable to playing Austria or Russia, in the parallel group. From the first minutes of the match in Ljubljana, Belarus took the lead, enjoying an easier victory. In the final round of the competition Belarusians defeated Slovenians — 35:33 (18:17).

The finals of the EHF Euro 2014 will see the 16 best European national teams competing from 12th to 26th January 2014, in Danish Copenhagen, Aalborg, Aarhus and Herning.
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