KRIM'S SUPERIORITY IS CONTINUING

Nothing was decided by the last match ingroup D between Krim Mercator of Slovenia and Elda Prestigio of Spain. The topspot was already taken by the runners-up of last year's Champions League, Krim,and Elda was second whatever the result of the match.

It was obvious right from the begining of match thatthe players were not highly motivated. Krim's coach Tone Tiselj rested four ofhis key players, Elda's coach Angel Sandoval left Alicia Morante at home andthe goalkeeper Diana Box did not play because of injury. 

And how did the match develop? In the first tenminutes, the host and guest teams were equal. In the beginning of match therewere plenty of technical mistakes from both sides. It was Tanja Dajcman of Krimwho scored first in the match, Spanish players needed three minutes to scoretheir first goal.The first tie and last of the match was in the 9th minute whenit was 3:3. From then on Krim was always in the lead. Once again, the matchbelonged to the pivot Liudimila Bodnieva. She scored whenever she had a chanceand was a hard test for the Spanish. In that way, the first half finished witha five goals advantage of Krim Mercator (15:10).

The second half started better for Elda Prestigio.Sandoval sent on the court young Veronica Verdu who put the Spanish back intothe match for a few minutes. But players from Ljubljana did not allow anysurprises. Even though Tiselj gave young players Argenti, Marincek and Mihic achance, they made the bigest difference in the 46th minute when they had a ninegoals advantage (24:15). The Spanish side were unlucky again when young Verdugot injured. In the last few moments of the match Elda made up a bit of thedifference and finished 28:22. Best scorers were Silvana Ilic who scored 10goals and Tanja Dajcman with 8 goals.

Both coaches made first estimation of performances ofChampions League. Tone Tiselj is satisfied: »I think it was great first part ofthe Champions League. Despite changes in the team and some injuries, we remainundefeated.« Elda's coach Angel Sandoval said: »We are completely satisfiedwith what we have done. We reached our goal. Today's match was strange becausethere was nothing to play for. We did not want any injuries and played lesspowerful . It is obvious that Krim was superior to everyone in our group.«

Text:       MajaMastnak

SiOL-Sportal