Five EHF EURO stars go for the title
Five EHF EURO stars go for the title
They will all meet at EHF EURO 2010, and they will all be going for medals – but that aside, the five nominees for the World Handball Player of the Year award can use the EHF EURO 2010 tournament in Norway and Denmark to promote themselves.
An expert jury, which includes famous and successful coaches, such as Lino Červar, Heiner Brand, Ulrik Wilbek, Evgeny Trefilov and Marit Breivik, plus IHF lecturers, have made their proposals for the vote. All of the nominees not only come from Europe, but all of them are due to play at the EHF EURO 2010.
For Bojana Popović, the tournament in Norway and Denmark will be her EHF EURO premiere with Montenegro, and yet the Balkan team arrives in the North as one of the favourites. Popović won the EHF Champions League title in 2010 for the fifth time (Slagelse, Viborg) before transferring to Montenegro’s top team, Budućnost Podgorica.
In her nation’s first EHF EURO match, Popović will meet another nominee for the World Handball Player 2010 award: Liudmila Postnova from Russia, a three-time World Champion. With Russia, Postnova is aiming for her first-ever EURO title following the Silver of 2006 in Sweden, and the Bronze of 2008 in FYR Macedonia.
Norwegian goalkeeper Katrine Lunde Haraldsen already has three EHF EURO titles (2004, 2006, 2008) on her individual account, apart from which she became Olympic Champion with Norway and EHF CL winner with Viborg before moving to Győr.
Grit Jurack played together with Popović and Lunde Haraldsen at Viborg – but in Norway and Denmark both of them will be opponents for the German record-holder, who is playing in her sixth EHF EURO. Only two months after the birth of her son, she returned to the court in April to lead Viborg to the EHF CL title. After losing two semi-finals and Bronze finals in 2006 and 2008, the left-hander wants to capture her first EURO medal with Germany.
Cristina Neagu made a huge leap in her career during 2010. One year ago she was named IHF Rookie of the Year, and now she’s among the nominees for the women’s main award. After missing in the semi-final of 2008 very closely, Neagu wants to play a key role in helping Romania win a EHF EURO medal after reaching the EHF CL final with her club Oltchim Vâlcea in 2010.
For the first time ever, all journalists have the opportunity to give their votes on the newly-installed media section of the IHF website. In addition, all handball fans around the world can also cast their vote for one of the five nominees. The voting starts today and ends on 1 January 2011. The Women’s World Handball Player of the Year 2010 will be announced and awarded during the Men’s World Championship in Sweden.
This evening, the World Handball Player 2009, Allison Pineau, will be presented with her award in Mannheim – prior to starting her ‘medal mission’ with France in Norway and Denmark.
