Girl Power in Croatia!
Their new women’s coach is none other than the brilliant Irina Kirillova, a former player of USSR.
The official announcement took place in Zagreb, Croatia. Irina was joined by Mr. Zdeslav Barač, President of the Croatian Volleyball Organization, as she shared with the press people her thoughts and plans.
Queen Irina and the Croatian ladies have a busy year ahead of them. They will compete in the 2011 European League (the winner automatically wins a spot for the 2012 World Grand Prix), 2011 European Championship and a Qualification Tournament for the 2012 Olympics in London.
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“This year will be very intense but we still have enough time to prepare well for our campaign and get together a good roster; at the moment, Croatia’s national team has a good combination of young and experienced players and this can certainly help us”. Irina says.
We deeply respect Queen Irina and she has what it takes to develop a stronger squad but it’d take a lot of patience and dedication. The Croatian Team almost missed the World Championship due to $$$ problems last year but resolved it just in time. They played well at the tournament but was not enough to advance to the next round. (They beat Cuba in Round 1!)
Croatia is the home team of Sanja Popovic, Mia Jerkov, Maja Poljak and Senna Usic. Just an FYI!
Last time Croatia stood on the podium was when they son a SILVER medal at the European Championship 12 years ago.
Good luck ladies!
WATCH: At 45, Irina officially retired from professional volleyball last season. Watch her glorious days with USSR 23 years ago…
(image & source: CEV.lu)
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