18.03.2014, 11:08
No stopping Vardar in first campaign

FEATURE: The star-studded Skopje team have lived up to expectations throughout their first season in Europe's top flight competition and have no intention of making up the numbers in Budapest

No stopping Vardar in first campaign

What many fans secretly wished finally became reality. Unique emotions and feelings which can rarely be felt spread on Sunday evening across FYR Macedonia. The team created last summer with many top players arriving from around Europe has gone all the way to the Women’s EHF FINAL4 in their debut season. This achievement makes WHC Vardar SCBT only the second Macedonian team after Kometal in the final stages of the most elite competition.

The match in which the stakes were huge, the ‘’red-black” dream team from Skopje, thanks to the great atmosphere created from thousands fans in the “Boris Trajkovski” hall managed to win 24:18 against the Swedish champions Sävehof.  Indira Kastratovic’s team had ups and downs during the match, but the remarkable performances of captain Inna Suslina and Andrea Lekic secured their ticket to Budapest in the last match of the main round. 

“I must congratulate to all my teammates for reaching the FINAL4 and I must thank them for such a good and successful year in which I will end my career. 

“At the beginning of the season I trusted in my team and knew we can reach the FINAL4. I think that this is a great achievement for the team that gathered for the first time this summer and we are all very happy about this,” said line player Ana Djokic.

Vardar entered the competition in qualification, and after finishing the group matches in first position, Vardar kept their great run going in the main round to finish first. In 12 matches Kastratovic team was defeated just once in the match against FC Midtjylland and three matches ended in a draw.

The Macedonian champions’ performances have not been without flaws and there is still plenty of room for improvement, yet there are only positive emotions coming from the players.

“It’s such a huge success to be among the best four teams in Europe. We have one month to prepare for the main challenge, we have to see what went wrong in the main round and work hard in order to improve our weaknesses. 

“There plenty left in all of us. Thanks to all for their support and I hope they will come to Budapest,” said Jovanka Radicevic.

The semi-final opponent in Budapest will be Montenegrin champion Buducnost, by no means an easy opponent and focus will be shifted to that task almost immediately.

“This is sport and there is not much space for celebration, we must continue with our preparation after national team qualifications matches ends. 

“I must remark that we are all very satisfied with the fans support and we will definitely miss them in Budapest. This is the best way to end the season and my career,” concluded Djokic.

TEXT: Amina Idrizi / cor