Sopot, Poland, January 27, 2014. The Ukrainian-born middle-blocker of Poland’s champions Atom Trefl SOPOT, Yuliya Shelukhina, will be out for the remainder of the season after she tore a ligament on her right knee during the Playoffs 12 match against Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL of Turkey. She will be out for eight months, so the current season has already come to an end for her.
“After traveling back to Sopot we have been waiting for the injury to be diagnosed and finally we got the confirmation that she tore the ACL on her right knee” says the physiotherapist of the team, Dr. Aleksander Bielecki. “Actually we have already started the preparations for the surgery where the ligament will be re-constructed. The sooner she undergoes that surgery, the sooner we will be able to start with the re-habilitation and the recovery process” he adds. Bielecki is well-known even outside Poland for he has helped many athletes and celebrities get back on track after suffering similar injuries.

Even though Shelukhina will be out for the remainder of the season, SOPOT is not planning to sign any other middle-blocker. “We already have Justyna Lukasik and she already performed really good last year when another two of our middle-blockers, Sylwia Wojcieska and Dorota Pykosz, were both injured. Justyna did her best also in the two sets she played in Istanbul after Yuliya tore her ligament and she also replaced Shelukhina in our last game of the national league where we beat Budowlani LODZ in straight sets” says club President Roman Szczepan Kniter. “We are confident that we can stand this situation with our current players and we wish Yuliya a speedy recovery.”

This means that Lukasik and Zuzanna Efimienko are the only middle-blockers left in the roster of Atom Trefl up to the end of the season. However, Dutch-born head coach Teun Buijs remains quite confident: “We still have a few options that we can try out. Of course one of these is Justyna who played extremely well last Sunday when we beat LODZ. However, although the injury to Yuliya is very serious news for our team, I have some other plans in my mind. This is a problem that we have to cope with and we are confident that we can find a solution.”

Shelukhina dismissed all rumors that she may quit the sport after this injury. She is now waiting for that surgery and for a recovery process that will probably take up to 8 months. Everyone in the club is trying to cheer her up and keeping their fingers crossed hoping to see her back very soon.