Sofia, Bulgaria, April 22, 2018. On Saturday, Russia stars in the making were crowned U17 European champions after claiming a 3-1 victory over the team of Italy in the final match of the continental showpiece held in Sofia. The journey towards the gold medal was a long one for the Russian team. They started not so well in the tournament, losing 1-3 from the hosts of Bulgaria in the pool stage but afterwards they changed gear and with every next match they improved their performance to eventually reach the first place.
The whole Russian team worked as one, as their head coach Svetlana Safronova said a few minutes after winning the gold but there was one player who, with her performances, helped a lot achieve this success. In the decisive and most important moments, Valeriia Gorbunova showed she could be the key player for her team - she acted being confident in her skills and match by match she developed and unleashed her potential.
She was also one of the biggest weapons in the Russian attack in the final match vs. Italy. Gorbunova scored 23 points, making it rather difficult for the defence of the Azzurrine to respond in a proper way. Because of her outstanding performance during the whole tournament and most of all, during the final, Valeriia Gorbunova deservedly received the award for the Most Valuable Player of #EuroVolleyU17W.
She could not hide her happiness when receiving the award but the excitement from being the best one did not have a “dizzy” effect on her as she showed herself down to the earth while talking to the media after the Awarding Ceremony.
Valeriia is aware of the fact that being chosen as the MVP in such an important tournament means also responsibility but she hopes this award would be only the beginning for her: “This is the first step in my career. I want to improve my skills and I why not always aiming for being MVP in the next tournaments as well. I have a lot of work to do and I hope to keep up the good level.”
Valeriia was really happy about the victory of Russia over Italy and about being crowned champion: “It is very difficult to find the right words to describe how I feel right now. I am extremely happy. We had a lot of hard work to do and we did it. It was a tough season for us, we had some problems during the preparation process as well but we did the right things and we finished the tournament in first place. This is the best way to conclude our #EuroVolleyU17W experience.”
Gorbunova is only fifteen years old but the future seems bright for her. For now, she is totally dedicated to her favourite sport and she is willing to give more and more to Volleyball.
“I started playing Volleyball seven years ago. And I love it. I started in my home town - Chelyabinsk but last year I continued my career in the Academy of Dinamo KAZAN and we are playing in the Junior League of the Russian Championship. It is a great opportunity that is helping me a lot to grow as a player.”
For Valeriia the experience in Sofia, Bulgaria, was marvellous. She liked the atmosphere of #EuroVolleyU17W and she is sure that this tournament will turn out to be one of her best memories.
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