Dmitry Kovalev undergoes knee surgery

Chekhovskie Medvedi’s first choice right wing and Russian national team player, Dmitry Kovalev, had an operation on his right knee in Austria on Tuesday.

The 29 year-old player injured his knee during the EHF EURO 2014 qualification match between Russia and Austria in Perm, earlier this month.

He spoke to specialists in Austria and got an invitation to have the surgery there.

Dmitry had a near ruptured cruciate ligament and after an operation lasting many hours, the Austrian surgeons replaced the ligament with a new one taken from the same knee.

Kovalev will travel back home to Russia next week and will begin his rehabilitation program.

Before the operation, the specialists estimated a rehabilitation period of approximately six months.

Dmitry Kovalev has had one of the most successful seasons in his career. Before his injury, Kovalev was the top scorer for Chekhovskie Medvedi in the VELUX EHF Champions league.

Vladislav Koshman has been called up from Medvedi’s reserve team as a replacement for Kovalev.