Russia are ready for a 'tough fight'

Russia's women's national team enter the qualification for the Women's EHF EURO 2014 after a disappointing summer that saw Russia missing out on the qualification for the World Championship 2013 - the competition they won in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Missing the final tournament in Serbia was one of the main reasons why, after having been at the helm of the national team for only a year, head coach Vitaly Krokhin was dismissed and Evgeny Trefilov was once more reinstated.

Trefilov had led the women's national team to the aforementioned success at World Championship level but was dismissed after Russia lost in the quarter-final of the 2012 Olympic Games - Krokhin became his successor.

Many of the players hope now that Trefilov will bring back success to the team when it starts their qualification campaign for the Women's EHF EURO 2014 with a double-header against Germany on 23 and 27 October.

"There are many reasons for the weak results of the Russian national team. One of them is the generation change which takes a lot of time. We have plenty of new players in the team and we cannot change the squad immediately because we need time to make a good team," says Russia's left wing Ekaterina Marenikova.

"With the return of Trefilov we will change only the approach in our work. The success of the national team will depend not only on him but on the team itself, and I think that this team is able to show good results."

Her teammate Anna Sen adds: "I think that everything is in his (Trefilov's) power as he is a very strong-willed coach! The most important thing is hard work and diligence, the rest will come with time."

The Russian national team held two training camps in the lead-up to the qualification matches with twenty players of the strongest Russian clubs participating.

"Our training camps finished successfully. We worked a lot and became physically stronger," said left back Sen.

The last official match between Russia and Germany ended with 26-all draw in the EHF EURO 2012 Main Round.

"I think that the luck should be on our side because at the European Championship in Serbia we missed it. We are prepared very well for this game and we are ready for a tough fight," said Sen.

Russian squad for the EHF EURO 2014 Qualification matches against Germany:

Goalkeepers: Maria Sidorova (Zvezda Zvenigorod), Galina Gabisova (Rostov on Don), Maria Basarab (Lada Togliatti), Elena Fomina (Dinamo Volgograd)

Backs: Vladlena Bobrovnikova (Rostov on Don), Maria Garbuz (Kuban Krasnodar), Ekaterina Davydenko (Lada Togliatti), Ekaterina Ilina (Lada Togliatti), Liudmila Postnova (Zvezda Zvenigorod), Anna Punko (Kuban Krasnodar), Anna Sen (Rostov on Don), Tatiana Khmyrova (Vardar Skopje)

Wingers: Elena Avdekova (Dinamo Volgograd),  Anna Vyakhireva (Zvezda Zvenigorod), Polina Gorshkova (Lada Togliatti), Oksana Kiseleva (Kuban Krasnodar), Olga Chernoivanenko (Lada Togliatti), Marina Yartseva (Rostov on Don)

Line players: Ksenia Makeeva (Dinamo Volgograd), Aleksandra Stepanova (Dinamo Volgograd)