04.03.2010, 11:21
Hypo ready for first points

The Austrians find motivation with a new Brazilian captain and a South Korean boost.

Hypo ready for first points

Hypo-NÖ will face Viborg HK on Saturday in Südstadt, with the Austrian team looking for its first points of this season’s Champions League Main Round.It’ll be a very tough game for the Austrians, as Women’s Champions League titleholder Viborg HK is showing very good form. Oh and co. are disappointingly still without points this far, so the game against the Danes will be a decisive for their season.

Last Friday, Hypo defeated Montenegrin Budućnost T-Mobile on home soil in a WRHL game with a convincing 30:23. The team of Ferenc Kovács gave a solid performance, not only with 17 saves by keeper Olga Sanko but also with 9 goals scored by Alexandra do Nascimento.

Nascimento, who is currently leading the scoreboards in both the Regional League and in the Champions League, recently became team captain of Hypo, replacing her Brazilian colleague Daniela Piedade.

"For Dani it all became too much and she didn’t wish to continue as the mouthpiece between the team and the coaching side," Coach Ferenc Kovács told eurohandball.com. "Her wish is to focus more on her own game. With Ale, we have found the perfect replacement for the captain’s position," he continued.

In their last CL game against Russian rival Dinamo Volgograd the Austrians faced trouble in defence and in received fast break goals.

"Those were definitely the key elements that caused us to lose the game," the coach analysed. "Against Viborg HK we’ll have to focus more on these factors. It’ll be very tough as the Danes are superior. They have a much bigger budget, which naturally means a better squad," Kovács concluded.

Last week, Hypo-NÖ was trained by world class coach Hyung-Kyun Chung from South Korea. The legendary coach is the best-known trainer in his country, as he was responsible for Korea’s rise in the late 1980´s.

Kovács said: "Chung is the vice-president of the handball federation of South Korea, and being a university professor, he often visits Europe. Due to our close connection with him and the federation, it was a great honour to have him stopover in Südstadt. He led all our training sessions and certainly provided extra motivation for our players before the game against Viborg."

TEXT: Márk Hegedüs