Polish Pearls want to shine again

The female handball pride of Lublin has been known under several names over the years: Montex Lublin, MKS Montex Lublin and SPR Lublin are just a few examples.

The finest achievements by the Polish team, now known as MKS Perla Lublin, were reaching the quarter-finals of the Women’s EHF Champions League 1999/2000 and again two years later.

This weekend, Perla will try to reach the quarter-finals of the Women’s Challenge Cup 2017/18 when they are hosting a doubleheader against SIR 1° Maio/ADA CJ Barros of Portugal at their Globus Sports Hall in Lublin.

The two games in Poland are the only matches in the competition this weekend. The other seven ties of the Last 16 will be played in February.

The visitors from Portugal have a Round 3 berth in the EHF Cup 2011/12 as their best result so far. They are facing a challenge in the two away games against Lublin, which have former Buducnost playmaker Kinga Achruk as one of their key players.

In Round 3 of the qualification phase, ADA CJ Barros routed KHF Shqiponja from Kosovo 75:38 on aggregate, while Perla Lublin handed Macedonian side ZRK Kumanovo an ever bigger defeat (95:31) over two matches.

The first leg throws off Saturday at 18:00 hrs local time, followed by the return game 24 hours later.