"A real handball holiday"

Olga Akopian opted to take maternity leave after picking up her second World Championship winner’s medal with Russia in 2009. But after returning to top-level handball in 2014 re-energised and reinvigorated, the 30-year-old left back has reached the MVM EHF FINAL4 for first time in her distinguished career. Now, the target is not to leave the big event empty handed.

In this interview, Akopian explains the challenges she had to overcome during her comeback, assesses the competition and reveals what it takes to win at the highest level…

ehfCL.com: You have spent your entire career playing for just one club, Dinamo-Sinara. Do you consider this an advantage or disadvantage?

Olga Akopian: I’ve had many offers from other Russian clubs and also from clubs outside of Russia, but ever since I was a little girl I considered myself a person who loves her home. I love to be at home, I love my city, family and friends, and that is why I wouldn’t like to throw everything away and move to another club. The advantage of this is that I know most of the players and I know the tactics of the game so I don’t have to adapt to anything new. On the other hand the only disadvantage I can think of is that I haven’t tried something new.

ehfCL.com: In 2014 you made your return to handball after giving birth to your daughter, Arina. How hard a decision was that for you?

Olga Akopian: I had the feeling that I wouldn’t be able to get back to my previous fitness levels and that I wouldn’t be able to play at all like I did before the break. It was also difficult to leave my daughter alone at home. I made my comeback in January of last season and was in far from ideal shape. But at the start of this season things went very well and I think that I’m in satisfactory shape now, at least no worse than before I decided to take the maternity leave.

ehfCL.com: Dinamo have introduced some foreign players this season. How have you found the process of adapting to working with players from outside Russia?

Olga Akopian: In the last few seasons there has been a trend of foreign players coming to Russia. We have two foreign players in our squad, Anita Gace and Asma Elghaoui and we are comfortable playing with them. There were no difficulties with Anita Gace because she is a winger and has minimal involvement in the combinations, there was no language barrier either. For Asma, things were a little bit more complicated. As a line player she is involved in all the combinations and very often we had to explain where she should stand and when she should run, but things improved with time.

ehfCL.com:  Many think that Dinamo are the biggest surprise in the FINAL4. To what do you owe your success?

Olga Akopian: The first thing that was great for our team was the lucky draw we got in the group phase. This helped us to win first position in the group. Then, we had a situation where in the away matches we played even better than at home. We could smell victory more often and we felt that maybe we were able to advance and this brought us to the finals.

ehfCL.com:  What is your opinion of the FINAL4 format and what it adds to the competition?

Olga Akopian: You simply cannot make any mistakes. In the classic matches with home and away games, you had the opportunity to correct your bad performance in the away game with a great performance at home, and here you simply don’t get a second chance. The other great thing about this system is that it is a real handball holiday. You have all the best teams in one place combined with their fans, which makes it more interesting and entertaining.

ehfCL.com:  You meet Larvik in the semi-final. From your experiences against Norwegian teams, what are their biggest strengths?

Olga Akopian: Looking at their team at the moment, there are no big changes. We still have to play against a team which is really strong and has a lot of experience and above all they are playing fast handball.

ehfCL.com: You have already faced Vardar and Buducnost this season. How do you rate those teams and which do you think will reach the final?

Olga Akopian: Both teams have a number of good players. Buducnost are stronger collectively and focus a lot on team play while Vardar play an individual game. It is always more difficult to play against a team which practices team play and that is why, in my opinion, Buducnost are the favourites for the title.

ehfCL.com: You have won several titles with the Russian national team. What does a team need in order to win a medal?

Olga Akopian: I was lucky to play with a great generation which brought me two gold medals at the World Championships. The first Russian championship gold medal I won was also very difficult, and because it was my first title, I really appreciate that one. From my experience, I would say that the key to success is to believe in yourself and in your team, and then anything is possible.

See Olga Akopian's entire MVM EHF FINAL4 photo shoot.