Chekhov Russian champions again

Four days before their semi-final against FC Barcelona at the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne, Chekhovskie Medvedi had a brilliant dress rehearsal on home soil. By beating St. Petersburg in the second leg of the final of the Russian league the team of Coach Vladimir Maximov won the Russian championship.

After Chekhov had won the first leg in St. Petersburg last weekend 33:28, the gates were wide open. On Tuesday they walked through by winning clearly 39:28 (16:16) in Chekhov. For Maximov and his team it was the tenth consecutive Russian title. Vitaly Ivanov and left back Alexey Kamanin were in this team in all of these ten titles.

More good news for the team: back court player Alexey Rastvortsev who had suffered from an arm injury from the EHF Champions League Quarterfinal match against Montpellier is ready for Cologne and returned to the court in both final matches – with eight goals in the first leg in St. Petersburg.

"His comeback means a lot to us, he’s one of our most important players," coach Maximov said. On Thursday the Russians will travel to Cologne, on Saturday they will play the first semi at the EHF FINAL4 (15.30 pm local time) against the Spanish CL record champion from Barcelona.