Handball players “Kuban” issued two defeats in a row

“MK in Kuban” tells about the main events in the life of the Krasnodar teams in team sports last week. Most of the news was positive, but overshadowed by the defeat of the volleyball Dynamo.

Balance restored

Krasnodar “Kuban” on Monday evening held its tenth match in the Women’s Handball Super League. Denis Saifulin’s team evened out the balance of wins and losses – now it is 5 : 5. And the last two games turned out to be devastating. At the end of October, “Kuban” was exactly two times ahead of the Maikop ASU – “Adyif” – 40:20. Now the defeat is even more impressive. Superleague debutant, a club from St. Petersburg with a nice name “Baltic Dawn”, was ruthlessly knocked out – 41: 16. In this game, Krasnodar seemed to be competing with themselves and managed to surpass the previous result, making a difference of 25 points.

Moreover, the performance in the “Kuban” was distributed surprisingly evenly. Almost all field players scored. Ksenia Trukhina and Anastasia Shavman, who returned from the Russian national team, scored five times each, for which she played two friendly matches against Belarus. Against Baltic Dawn, four more Krasnodar players scored four goals each, and five handball players scored three goals each. Kuban showed the highest percentage of shots realized – seventy percent.

Against the backdrop of an inexperienced opponent, one should not take victory too optimistically. Ahead is a steep and principled test in the face of Astrakhanochka. This is the previous team of Kuban head coach Denis Saifulin. The main thing is that almost every year the teams regularly go side by side in the standings. And now Volzhanka are one line higher (fifth versus sixth), however, they hit a significant mark on points – four more. Kuban has a chance to get closer, especially since it’s a home game.

Before the fight with the champion

Basketball players of Lokomotiv-Kuban have outlined a winning streak in the VTB United League – the third victory in a row in the piggy bank of Krasnodar. And in the farthest outing of the season – in Krasnoyarsk. It is worth noting that there was no head coach of Loko, Alexander Sekulich. He left for the Slovenian national team, which he also heads. The Balkan team played in the qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup. And it was very successful. Slovenia advanced to the prestigious tournament ahead of schedule, beating Israel and Germany.

Loko has an overseas reinforcement. Krasnodar team was replenished by 29-year-old American point guard Josh Gray. True, he did not manage to fly to Siberia and joined the team later. Gray played in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers, was involved in the US team.

Lokomotiv-Kuban general manager Ivan Novchich noted that the players of the team lack stability and the newcomer will help solve this problem.

“Signing an experienced point guard will give young basketball players the support they need, help them progress and bring out their best side even better. And of course, it will help the team achieve results.

The victory came out in Krasnoyarsk Labor – 71:69 (18:17, 19:22, 22:14, 12:16). With an overall low performance, the opponents implemented long-range shots well – their percentage is even higher for the hosts than for the “kopeck piece”, Loko’s is quite comparable. Krasnodar were constantly in the lead in the score, but they failed to achieve calmness. Regularly “Yenisei” approached in the account. The final quarter was the most intense. The fate of the meeting was decided literally in the last seconds. The role of a clutcher (a player who knows how to decide the outcome of a match at key moments) was successfully tried on by the one who was supposed to do this. With a tie, Loko’s leader, American Jaylen Barford, shook his opponent with a dribbling and made an accurate middle throw. The guests took a timeout, but the decisive shot from a difficult position they failed.

Barford and Andrey Martyuk became the most productive in the Krasnodar team, scoring 19 points each. Martyuk entered the symbolic top five of the VTB United League tour for the second time in a row. He became an effective player of the match against Enisey: in addition to 19 points, he has eight rebounds and three assists. And in the previous match against Avtodor Saratov, Martyuk scored 25 points.

Coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban Yuritsa Zhuzha said that the team agreed to play in such a way that Alexander Sekulich could be proud.

“We made a plan before the game and fulfilled everything we agreed on,” said the specialist.

On November 16, Loko will host Zenit from St. Petersburg at home. In a meeting with the current champion of the tournament, the head coach should already lead the team.

In an adult company

The second round of the Russian Rugby-7 Championship ended in Sochi. Krasnodar “Bogatyrs” were able to show their best result of the season in it. In the first round in Penza, which took place back in August, Anton Levchenko’s team became the sixth. At the end of October, in the Cup of Russia, where players under 23 competed, the Krasnodar team became only seventh due to a series of injuries. Now the young Kuban team in an older company has climbed to fifth place. The most curious thing is that the group stage was very unsuccessful for Bogatyrs. They suffered two major defeats from one of the leaders of the tournament – Kazan “Strela” – and “Zastava-7” from St. Petersburg. We lost in a close match to Rostov and were able to win with a minimal margin only Lipetsk.

Only two teams advanced to the semifinals. Krasnodar from fourth place only got into the tournament for fifth – eighth places, and there they were able to realize themselves. First, they beat the owners of the Russian Cup: Krasnoyarsk Yenisei-STM, and then broke the resistance of Rostov, avenging their defeat in the group stage. In the overall standings, “Bogatyrs” share fifth – sixth places with “Yenisei”.

And both rounds of the national championship were won by the reigning champions of Russia – Lokomotiv rugby players from Penza.

Unfortunately, the week was not without failures for the Kuban clubs. Dynamo Krasnodar suffered a humiliating defeat in the Volleyball Super League. The team of Pavel Zabuslaev was opposed by the Nizhny Novgorod “Sparta”, which had only one victory. “Easy walk” did not work. The game lasted for three hours of “dirty” time. The teams could not “part” with each other, having played the maximum five games – 2 : 3 (21 : 25, 23 : 25, 25 : 23, 25 : 23, 14 : 16). And even the tie-break went a little beyond the bounds of decency, that is, for fifteen points. However, everything could have ended in the fourth set, but there Dynamo escaped from the score 20:23. Krasnodar won five draws in a row. Alas, luck made a reverse feint in the final shortened game, the advantages – 8 : 4 and 13 : 10 – were not enough for Dynamo to succeed. Defeat – 14 : 16. The team earned only one tournament point. And the next match will be held against the national champion – Kaliningrad “Lokomotiv” – away on November 18.