Freser has never seen so many injuries before

Before EHF CL resumes, Eurohanball.com talks to one of the most experienced players in Slovenian Krim Mercator. Anja Freser is very disappointed after Krim gained only two points from four matches. The 33-year old handball player talks about past, present and future.

Eurohandball.com: The last year did not end as you expected. What are your wishes for 2008?

Anja Freser: Year 2007 was all grey and gloomy. I wish for myself only health and no injuries and for Krim to stay in European competitions. Firstly, I want two victories against Sävehof and Zvezda at the last two matches of the first group round. Than I hope rivals who we are depending on will have some troubles.

Eurohandball.com: It is the first time that Champions League started earlier – not January – and it caused many troubles for you…

Anja Freser: Absolutely. This first part was very disappointing for us. We always wanted that CL start earlier, now it happened and we collapsed completely. If I could choose I would make the time table different for this year. I cannot remember so many injuries before.

Eurohandball.com: But other clubs also have injury problems all the time…

Anja Freser: This is true, but we had a series of injuries. In addition, key players like Vergelyuk, Bodnieva, Kindl, Oder, Siti, Stefanisin were injured. This was really bad luck and the younger players were not able to take such a big responsibility at once.

Eurohandball.com: There were also many critics of you – older players. How could you cope with this pressure?

Anja Freser: It was difficult for us too. We all wanted to play and do our best, but we could not overcome our health problems. You have to know that some of us are over 30 and cannot play on full speed for 60 minutes, but it is also difficult when you play only 10 minutes. You can hardly warm up… I agree that the club should work with youngsters, but for such elite competitions as Champions League, you also need some experienced handball players.

Eurohandball.com: You mentioned earlier that you will retire from handball, but the management convinced you to stay from time to time again…

Anja Freser: The final decision is not yet made. But taking in consideration all injuries and problems, my time is slowly up. I would like to start living a real life and have a family once, but I will not say anything about it until I have not come to a 100% sure decision.