„A new age for Serbian handball“

A new Serbian star, left back Biljana Filipovic (26) has a perfect season behind her. She won the domestic league championship title in France with Arvor Brest and also made an impressive comeback to the Serbian National Team squad in two matches against Romania at the EHF EURO 2012 qualifications.

„From the very beginning, we knew our main goal – to be the best team in France, so I think that we didn’t surprise anyone. We only lost in the Cup Final after a penalty shoot-out, so Brest is rather unhappy because a historic chance for the „triple crown“ was missed. We worked hard though and won two titles – the Championship and the League Cup – says Filipovic, one of the three best left backs in the French League.

ehf-euro.com: This was also a season of your „new beginning“ in the Serbian National Team. How do you feel about that?

Biljana Filipovic: It’s a new age for Serbian handball! Some people have changed, we have a new coach, Sasa Boskovic, who follows and respects players in France. The team and coaches welcomed me warmly. I was almost on the verge of forgetting about the National Team, but as I got my chance against Romania, I used that chance, but I can be even better than that…

ehf-euro.com: You'd already played a friendly match before those clashes, which the Netherlands won 34:29 in Arnhem. What happened in that game?

Biljana Filipovic: We were extremely tired as the season was long and very exhausting. Even though we tried to focus and give 100% in that match, the Dutch girls simple overran us. That was the main reason for our defeat, but the fact is that we also made a lot of technical mistakes and our shooting percentage was low.

ehf-euro.com: Serbia is with “one leg” at EHF EURO 2012 in Netherlands and it's almost impossible to lose a place at the European Championship in last two matches. Where you will find motivation at the end of a long season?

Biljana Filipovic: I don’t want to underestimate anyone, but these teams Greece and Portugal aren’t on our level. Defence is the key to every win. We have to find motivation. In attack, our shooters could be better or worse, but the performance level of our defence has to be as high as possible. 

ehf-euro.com: In those matches with Romania in March the current Serbian squad showed some great potential. You lost first place in the group only by one goal...

Biljana Filipovic: I wasn’t in team when we lost at the „Carpatia Cup“ by 19 goals in a friendly match in December 2011. We must not allow any team to beat us by 10-15 goals. Ok, now we're almost at EHF EURO 2012, but that isn’t enough. Our mentality is different. If we set some higher goals, I'm sure we can achieve them in the near future.

ehf-euro.com: Serbia has 0-9 score at the three last EHF EURO Championships. Is it time to make some progress next December in Netherlands?

Biljana Filipovic: I'm a real optimist. I believe that we can be in the TOP 5 at EHF EURO 2012, maybe even taking a medal! Why not? I didn’t come here to waste my time. I could easily spend time with my family and friends instead. We are in the National Team to fight for records, highest goals, future and history. I hope that all the girls in the Serbian NT share that ambition. We need a little luck to avoid serious injuries, and then we can go far.

ehf-euro.com: Do you think about the World Championship 2013 in Serbia?

Biljana Filipovic: That will be a fantastic experience in front of our home fans. Let’s see how it turns out in the Netherlands. That will be a huge test before Serbia. The results at EHF EURO 2012 will give us an idea of how far Serbia is from winning a medal in Belgrade.

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.
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