Lack of competitive matches does not bother Belarus

Unlike the vast majority of national teams, Belarus have not started the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 Qualification yet.

Having been drawn to Group 6 alongside only Norway and Romania, the Belarusians will begin their campaign with a double-header against the EHF EURO record winners, Norway.

The first game will be played on 26 March in Stavanger, while the reverse fixture on 30 March will take place in Mogilev.

In fact, Belarus have not played any official matches for the last 16 months. In the World Championship 2013 Qualification, they came second place behind Poland in Group 3 and did not qualify for the play-offs.

But now they probably face a somewhat easier task as two teams out of three will advance from the qualifying group and therefore book tickets to the final tournament in Croatia and Hungary in December.

Norway and Romania have already played against each other. In October the Norwegian team won both games - 25:23 and 30:18. And now, finally, the time has come for Belarusians to enter the competition. Their matches against Romania will take place in June.

The new man in charge

After the unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the World Championship 2013, the national federation decided to change the head coach.

Last September Leanid Brazinski stepped down and was replaced by the Slovenian specialist Tomaz Cater. In the past, Cater worked with Austrian and Slovenian clubs as well as the United Arab Emirates national team.

An interesting fact: Cater is the husband of Hanna Stsiapanava, a Belarus national player from Arkatron. Before coming back to her native Minsk in 2012, she had played many years in Slovenia where the couple actually met.

"Our main goal is to qualify for the EHF EURO 2014," Cater told ehf-euro.com. "So we will do our best to achieve it. We are in a serious group, but we should not be afraid."

The team started their preparation for the upcoming games last Monday. The Belarusians have daily training sessions at the sports complex Staiki just outside Minsk.

However, the squad is not yet complete. Alena Abramovich and Nataliya Vasileuskaya, who play for foreign clubs, will join the team only next Monday.

Two other players, Hanna Sukhamirava from BNTU-BelAZ and Viktoriya Shamanouskaya from HC Gomel, are missing because of injuries. Both are line players, so Cater might have a problem on that position.

15 out of 21 Belarusians play in their home country. But it is mostly those who play abroad that are expected to be team leaders.

Liliya Artsiukhovich and Anastasia Lobach from Zvezda Zvenigorod, Karyna Yezhykava from Astrakhanochka, Valiantsina Nesrsiaruk from SPR Lublin, Alena Abramovich from FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria have enough skills and experience for that.

Norway are considered to be a top national team, but the Belarusian head coach is optimistic: "Norway are going through a generation change, now they have many young players. So we should play calmly and avoid nervousness. I hope to get a positive result against both Norway and Romania."

The Belarusian squad:

Goalkeepers: Alena Abramovich (FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria), Valiantsina Kumpel (Gorodnichanka), Katsiaryna Mukhina (HPK Arkatron), Alesya Safonova (BNTU-BelAZ)

Wingers: Nataliya Vasileuskaya (E.S.Besancon Feminin), Iryna Dronova (HC Gomel), Yana Yemelyanenka (HC Gomel), Nataliya Kotsina (Gorodnichanka), Alena Kulik (BNTU-BelAZ), Palina Lutsenka (HPK Arkatron).

Line players: Anastasia Lobach (Zvezda Zvenigorod), Iryna Spas (Gorodnichanka)

Back court players: Liliya Artsiukhovich (Zvezda Zvenigorod), Karyna Yezhykava (Astrakhanochka), Katsiaryna Lisok (HPK Arkatron), Anastasiya Mazgo (BNTU-BelAZ), Katsiaryna Silitskaya (BNTU-BelAZ), Hanna Stsiapanava (Arkatron), Valiantsina Yankouskaya (Gorodnichanka), Dziyana Ilyina (HC Gomel), Valiantsina Nestsiaruk (SPR Lublin)