08.02.2008, 03:08
Ademar travel to Chekhov

The Champions League Main Round will throw off with a Russian-Spanish derby.

Ademar travel to Chekhov

On Wednesday morning, the Spanish team took the flight from Madrid to Moscow from where they will continue their way to Chekhov. They are going to face Chehovskie Medvedi in first match of CL Main Round on Friday.

Ademar Leon were five times in CL quarterfinals, but never reached the semi-finals. This will be a very important game for the Spanish, because if they want to reach the semi-finals this time, they need win in Chekhov and have a good start.

Spanish coach Jordi Ribera commented on the match:

“The Russians have great physical strength and it will be a hard match. In addition, our team will have a very unpleasant, long journey to Chekhov.”

Old fellows meet again

This is the third time in 7 years that Chehovskie Medvedi and Ademar Leon meet. They also met last year at the Doboj tournament. Five times the Spanish team won and only once the Russians.

After 13 rounds played, Chehovskie Medvedi are on top of the Russian league table with 13 clear victories. In the CL their best scorer was Igropulo so far with 40 goals. The Russian fans can expect good performance by Dibirov, Chipurin and Kovalev too.

On the other side, Ademar Leon are on the third place of the Asobal league with one more match played than the others. They won in the 18th round of Spanish Championship on Tuesday in an away match against Antequera by 25:22 (16:9). Laluska scored 10 goals and Jakobsen 8.

In the CL the best scorer for Ademar was Martin Stranovsky with 32 goals so far. The Spanish fans can rely on their goalkeepers Saric and Alilovic. Mirko Alilovic showed great form at the European Championship where he won silver medal with Croatia.

Jury Egorov retires

In January Russian team said goodbye to one of their most appreciated players because of health problems. Left back Jury Egorov will no longer play for Chehovskie Medvedi.

Although he did not play in the CL this season, last season he scored 33 goals. The 28-year old Russian arrived in the club in 2002 from CSKA Moscow. He played five CL seasons with his team and he was one of the best players in the club’s history.

Garralda to move to Denmark

Mateo Garralda, veteran Spanish player, will continue his professional handball career in Denmark from next season. Kolding’s official website and Garralda have both confirmed the agreement for the next three seasons.

The Spanish will leave Ademar Leon in June, but he will try to play at the Olympic Games as well. Mateo is 38-year old and he won Champions League with Teka, Barcelona (four times) and Portland San Antonio as well.

Jens Boessen, sport manager of KIF Kolding, was really happy with the agreement. Boessen thinks that the Spanish international player will be an example for the other handballers of the team. Garralda will sign for three years, but it is not sure that he would play for three seasons. It is also possible that the Spanish player could help the technical staff of KIF Kolding.

Chehovskie Medvedi vs. Ademar Leon

The first round match of Group 1 will be played on Friday in Chekhov’s hall at 17:00 Central European Time. The referees will be Sorin-Laurentiu Dinu and Constantin Din from Romania. The very first match of the CL Main round can be watched live on three different TV stations: Russian RTR Sport, Spanish TV Leon and Eurosport 2. Teledeportes will also broadcast the game delayed.

TEXT: Ivan Ambros and Fernando Urra Goñi