16/12/2018 14:26
Superstars secure first national cup title for Dinamo MOSCOW in five years
News from the National Federations
Kaliningrad, Russia, December 16, 2018. In a busy, yet exciting weekend for Russia’s Volleyball family, Dinamo MOSCOW routed Yenisei KRASNOYARSK 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-13) to win the women’s national cup for the first time since 2013. Dinamo KAZAN claimed the bronze medals after a dramatic 3-2 victory over hosts Lokomotiv.
The stars of Dinamo MOSCOW travel home with most of the individual awards as well, with Nataliya Goncharova receiving the prize for the MVP, Maja Ognjenovic the Best Setter, Ekaterina Efimova and Helena Havelkova the awards for the Best Blocker and Server, respectively. Mariia Frolova of Yenisei and Alla Galkina of Lokomotiv took the awards for the Best Spiker and Best Libero of the competition.
World champion Ognjenovic added one more accolade to her resume while Havelkova did better than her boyfriend György Grozer, who had to be content with the silver medal at the men’s Finals held in Kazan.
Russian Volleyball Federation President Stanislav Shevchenko presented the trophy to the eventual winners together with Executive Director Vladimir Patkin, two-time Olympic champion Tatiana Sarycheva, and Elena Ermakova, the daughter of the legendary Soviet coach Givi Akhvlediani.
Since 2009, the women’s Russian national cup bears the name of Akhvlediani, who coached the Soviet women’s national team to Olympic gold in 1968 and 1972, a world championship title in 1970, World Cup gold in 1973 and European Championship crowns in 1967, 1971 and 1975. Akhvlediani was at the helm of the Soviet men’s national team that won the World Championship title in 1960 and 1962.
“We did not expect to play Yenisei in the final, but they beat Dinamo KAZAN in the semis; obviously, the final was not that interesting for the audience but we accomplished our mission, taking the national cup for the first time in many years,” Goncharova said. “We are very happy. It feels good to receive the MVP award but I am even happier that this individual prize coincides with our victory as a team.”
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