"Don't be the first, don't be the last"

Valentina Nesteruk is a promising playmaker for Belarus, but she is only 23-years old. However, her professional league debut was back in 2003 and since then she has won the Belarus championship seven times with BNTU Minsk.

In 2011 Valentina moved to SPR Lublin. Playing in Poland, she is looking forward for next occasion to dress up in the shirt of Belarus as she tells ehf-euro.com.

ehf-euro.com: You've started the EHF EURO 2012 qualification with two defeats against the strongest teams in the group; Germany and Hungary. How do you reflect on those two matches, especially the one against Hungary where you were close to a surprise result?

Valentina Nesteruk: These teams play quick, technically ideal handball, so it’s a pleasure to meet them on court. In the match against Hungary we were really close to a surprising victory. That means, on the one hand, that we’ve acquired confidence that we can beat Hungarians in the future, on the other hand, next time they’ll be on alert and it’ll be harder to shock them.

In the autumn of 2011 Belarus started with new coach Leonid Brazinsky and this occasion shook us and gave new impulse. I hope we’ll continue improving our performance.

ehf-euro.com: Next up are two games against Azerbaijan. Are four points your aim in those duels?

Valentina Nesteruk: Belarus is the country with a difficult and thorny history, with some traditions which say; “don’t be the first, don’t be the last”. It means our mentality doesn’t call us to conquer the world, but we really hate to be at the bottom. So we certainly aim to two victories, and in spite of all respect to a good Azerbaijan team, I’m sure we’ll get all four points.

In addition, we need them to keep the chance of fighting for a higher place. Our trainers point us at this goal in the recent tournament – to pass qualification and get to the finals. Everything can happen, so we aren’t going to give up right now. We stay in good mood.

ehf-euro.com: The Belarus men team has numerous training camps and trips to international tournaments per season. Does your side have the same preparation?

Valentina Nesteruk: We could do with additional training and friendlies, that’s true - by the way, handball was invented as a female sport!

I am seeing some good signs that female handball, like male handball, will attract more attention from our leaders.

ehf-euro.com: Belarus had been part of the EHF EURO final tournaments, last in 2008. Do you think there are chances in the near future to be part of the continental event again? How is the recent situation for women's handball in Belarus and what is needed to catch up to the elite nations?

Valentina Nesteruk: I guess we should build the system from children's handball to professional league and to have good results. I see some changes for the better in our junior handball, that’s good.

I hope in the future our clubs will have more finance and better infrastructure so that they could challenge in European Cups like our male teams BGK and 'Dinamo'. They invite very good players from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and even Croatia and Spain.

ehf-euro.com: Many of you play abroad in strong leagues. Do you think this helps you and your colleagues to become a more compact player? What does having handball experience abroad mean to you?

Valentina Nesteruk: Moving abroad usually gives a new experience to any player – new impressions, new training, new style and tactics. The championships of Poland, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Russia are very competitive and interesting.

At least there are more teams! There are currently only eight female clubs in Belarus.

Anyhow, I hope we’ll start winning, increase our ranking, attract more attention, and then there will be more players available to the Belarus national team. 

Further Information

Find more information on the Women's EHF EURO 2012 Qualification HERE.

View more detailed information on the event on the Official EHF EURO 2012 Website.
www.ehf-euro.com/NED2012/

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