Torgovanov and Voronin take over Russia’s men’s team

Times are changing in Russian handball: Two weeks after the men’s team’s disappointing 19^th rank at the World Championship in Qatar and the subsequent resignation of coaching duo Oleg Kuleshov and Alexander Rymanov, the Russian Handball Federation has announced their successors.

On Monday, the Executive Committee decided that former internationals Dmitry Torgovanov and Lev Voronin will take over the team. Torgovanov will assume the head coach’s role, Voronin will be his assistant.

As a player the 43-year-old Voronin was Olympic (2000), world (1997) and European Champion (1996). He also won silver at the World Championship 1999 and at the EHF EURO 2000.

Torgovanov, also 43 years old, became world champion in 1993 and 1997, European Champion in 1996 and Olympic champion in 2000. In 2009 Torgovanov, after he had been playing in Germany for more than a decade, returned to his home town to take over HC St. Petersburg as a coach.

Four consecutive times he led his team to the group phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League; this season the team qualified for the group phase of the EHF Cup.

The first challenge for the new duo will be EHF EURO 2016 Qualification at the end of April and beginning of May when Russia first meet Ukraine before facing Hungary in a double-header.

The Executive Meeting of the Russian Handball Federation also decided on the future of women’s national team head coach Evgeny Trefilov.

Despite the weak result at the EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia the 59-year-old will remain in charge– at least until the World Championship Play-offs against Germany in June.

At the end of the meeting, president Vladimir Nelyubin, who had been elected in 2013, declared his immediate resignation.

By taking this step he took the responsibility for "unsatisfactory results" of the men’s and women’s national team.

"I'm obliged to share the responsibility for those results with the coaches," Nelyubin is quoted on rushandball.ru.

"Why did our former coaches Kuleshov and Rymanov had to answer questions on their results and why not me? I am not going to hide behind them."