Sergey Shishkarev, President of the Russian Handball Federation, spoke about the results of his business trip to the EHF Champions League Final Four.
On June 18–19, the EHF Champions League Final Four took place in Cologne. In the final match, Barcelona from Spain beat Polish Kielce on penalties and won its eleventh EHF Champions League Cup.
EHF Champions League
Men
Third place match
Kiel (Germany) vs. Veszprém (Hungary) – 37:35 (14:18, 34:34)
Goals: Bilyk – 7, Zarabec, Wiencek – 6 each, Ehrig – 5; Omar Yahia – 8, A. Nilsson – 7, Mahe – 6.
Final
Barcelona (Spain) vs. Kielce (Poland) – 37:35 pen. (14:13, 28:28, 32:32)
Goals: Aleix Gómez – 9, Mem, N´Guessan – 5 each; Vujovic, А. Dujshebaev, D. Dujshebaev, Kulesh, Korolek – 4 each.
At the invitation of the European Handball Federation, Russian Handball Federation President Sergey Shishkarev and Secretary General Denis Bogomolov attended the Final Four tournament. As admitted by Sergey Shishkarev at Lanxess Arena, the Russian delegation supported Vive Kielce (Poland) coached by Olympic champion Talant Dujshebaev, the legend of Soviet, Russian and Spanish handball.
“We enjoyed a great showing from all the participants of the Final Four. The crowds at the stands made this tournament a true celebration of handball. Lanxess Arena is one of the best venues in the world. It is no coincidence that the contract to host the Final Four torunaments has been extended until 2026,” Sergey Shishkarev shared his impressions. “Denis Aleksandrovich and I rooted for Kielce and for Talant Dujshebaev personally. We believed that he would be able to help his club win another trophy. But unfortunately, the dramatic ending and the penalty points missed by Talant’s son Alex did not allow Kielce to win... After the final, we tried to cheer the Dujshebaevs up. It is very nice to see that a wonderful handball dynasty continues at the highest level. I would like to note that the leading players on the Kielce team are Belarusian athletes Vladislav Kulesh and Artem Korolek, who was recognized as the most valuable player of the Final Four.”
Sergey Shishkarev also said that he had held talks with the international and European handball leaders regarding the participation of Russian teams in international competitions.
“I would describe my conversations with Hassan Moustafa and Michael Wiederer as meaningful. Once again, we heard words of support from them. Dr. Moustafa spoke about his speech at the IOC meeting, in which he conveyed the position of the Russian side agreeing to compete without the national flag and anthem. We once again drew attention to the fact that without the Russian teams, the level of both women’s and men’s competitions would fall inevitably. We agreed with Hassan Moustafa and Michael Wiederer that the Russian Handball Federation would make another appeal regarding allowing Russian teams to compete in tournaments under the auspices of the International Handball Federation and the European Handball Federation. This is especially important given that the Paris Olympics are only two years away. We plan to appeal to all international authorities to have our athletes admitted to international competitions. For this, the Russian Handball Federation is ready to compromise and incur additional costs, e.g., hold matches at neutral venues, if necessary,” said the President of the Russian Handball Federation.
Source: Russian Handball Federation