President of the Russian Handball Federation Sergei Shishkarev in an interview with , he wished the Olympic champion Anna Vyakhireva become an ambassador of peace and goodness of Russian sport on the international stage, playing for the Norwegian club Vipers Kristiansand.
On Thursday, Rostov-Don announced the departure of Vyakhireva, who has been playing for the Rostov team since 2016. According to , Vyakhireva will play next season in the Norwegian Vipers Championship.
– From the point of view of having the best player in the world in the Russian championship (departure of Vyakhireva) – an invaluable loss for our tournament. From a sporting and professional point of view, I accompany his transition. Now Anya is deprived of the opportunity to fully show all her handball talents, excellent skills on the international stage. We have been unfairly denied the right to compete.
Anya joins a Champions League winning club. Obviously, Vipers Kristiansand will set a similar goal in the new season. In this case, we will be consciously rooting not only for the foreign teams where our girls already play, but also for this particular Norwegian club. Although the Norwegian Handball Federation is not very friendly with ours, we will separate the bureaucrats from the professional athletes.
I would like to wish Anya success and act as a promoter, ambassador of peace and goodness of Russian sport on the international stage. Vyakhireva is a respected authoritative person who speaks excellent English. I think she will also fulfill this special diplomatic mission brilliantly on and off the pitch.
Anya is an exceptionally charming, intelligent and open person who is able to convey a position, including an unfair attitude towards Russian sport in general in relation to the blockade we are currently experiencing, Shishkarev told .
The Vipers have won the Champions League for the past two seasons.
Source : MatchTV
