Preparing for the Olympic Qualification Tournament
Almost four days after winning the EHF Women's Champions League, 11 Budućnost players gathered again in the Morača Sports Centre, as members of the Montenegrin National Team, with two goals - to forget for a while the greatest achievement in the history of the Montenegrin handball and to devote themselves to the next great goal, the Olympic Games in London.
So, there was not any time to celebrate, as from 25 to 27 May in Lyon, France, Montenegro are going to play the Olympic Qualification Tournament, against well noted nations Romania, France and Japan. The first two teams after the last round of the tournament will advance to London.
On the first training session 11 players were present who played the Second Leg of the EHF Women's Champions League final: Sonja Barjaktarović, Marina Vukčevic, Maja Savić, Radmila Milijanić, Ana Đokic, Suzana Lazović, Bojana Popović, Ana Radović, Milena Knežević, Anđela Bulatović and Katarina Bulatović. Additionally two more players of Budućnost, Jelena Marković and Ivana Božović complemented the squad.
Grupo Asfi Itxako Navarra goalkeeper Mirjana Milenkovic and Žito Prilep left winger Biljana Pavićević have also joined coach Dragan Adžić`s squad.
Èrd's line-player Sara Vukčević missed the first training because of an ankle injury, while on Saturday three more players joined the National Team arriving from Hungary: Jovanka Radičević (Győri Audi ETO KC), Jasna Tošković (Bèkèscsaba) and Sandra Nikčević.
For the upcoming qualification tournament coach Adžić is not able to count on injured Marija Jovanović (C.S. Oltchim Rm. Valcea) and Majda Mehmedović (Budućnost).
"If it was possible to leave Podgorica on Sunday night (after the return match of the EHF Champions League final) and to go somewhere for three days, then we could have got a good rest. But we had lot of receptions to thank everyone for winning the EHF Women's Champions League trophy. It was, however, a nice fatigue for all of us. So, the team had no time to rest, but I believe that we will be able to work normally and focus on the qualifying tournament", Adžić said.
Among all rivals in Lyon, Japan are, understandably, the biggest unknown opponents:
"I expect to get video material about Japan, and we will analyze Romanian and French matches of the last rounds of the EHF EURO qualifications. We won’t expect top form after such long season, but we can hope to compensate that tiredness with motivation. Given the situation we are in now, France and Romania are in advantage to earn an Olympic Games berth, but I certainly hope that we will overcome that", added Adžić.
Further Information
 Find more information on the Women's EHF EURO 2012 Qualification HERE.
View more detailed information on the event on the Official EHF EURO 2012 Website.
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TEXT: Saša Jončić
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