ROUND 2 REVIEW: New coach Liudmila Bodnieva has started her tenure as Russia’s new coach with two wins, after seeing off Lithuania, 35:21
Russia enjoyed their clearest win in Liudmila Bodnieva’s early reign, a 14-goal drubbing of Lithuania, 35:21, which brings them closer to sealing an EHF EURO 2022 berth.
GROUP 1
Lithuania vs Russia 21:35 (10:17)
- Lithuania enjoyed a 3:2 lead, only for Russia to launch a 7:0 unanswered run to clinch the lead and never look back
- Russian back Elena Mikhaylichenko was their top scorer, with six goals, helping her team to the top of the standings
- the Lithuanian side has only one win in their last ten matches, against Greece in March, and are bottom of the group having also lost to Poland
- Russia have won two out of two against Lithuania in historical matches
Russia build new side
The new-look Russian side, which is missing stars like backs Anna Vyakhireva and Daria Dmitrieva, is trying to build form before the next tournaments.
Coach Liudmila Bodnieva has a major rebuild under her watch, but in young star Elena Mikhaylichenko, she has a superb building block, as CSKA’s back scored six times in this game.
TEXT:
EHF / Adrian Costeiu