– Promotion to such a prestigious event as the European Championship club finals is our team’s biggest success – admits Karolina Peda of Pyrki AZS AWF Poznan. – We’re counting on a good performance, especially since we know some of the teams from last year's tournament – she adds.
Although the road from Poznan to the coastal beaches is a long one, the Wielkopolska team is one of the top beach handball teams in the country. For many years the girls have been winning medals at the Polish Championships, and at the same time promoting beach handball as a very spectacular sport discipline.
Meanwhile, the Pyrki team received official word that they have been invited to the finals of the European Beach Handball Tour competition, which will be held during 2-3 June in the resort town of Lagoa, Portugal, right on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, thanks to the number of points accumulated during the qualifying tournaments in 2001, the Poznan girls – as the first polish team in the history of this variety of handball – finished the European qualifications in the leader’s chair!
The promotion is a result of good Pyrki performances not only at Polish tournaments, but also competitions in Dangast (Germany) and Biełej pod Bezledem (Czech Republic). First place in the qualification rounds, however, has only a symbolic meaning, which is why they began training for the finals as early as mid-April right after the indoor season finished, in which most of them played. Joining Pyrki in Portugal will be 7 of the best teams from the old continent, among others: title defenders Detono Zagrzeb (Croatia), Bumblebee Nord-West (Germany), OVB Beach Girls (Hungary) and TSHV Camelot (The Netherlands).
Some time ago, we regarded winning a medal at the Polish championships as the absolute peak of our dreams. This time, we have knocked on the door of a European competition faster than anyone could have expected. We are treating this final as extremely prestigious, as there’s no other more important club beach event for this variety of handball! – ends Peda.
source: pyrki.pl/azsawfpoznan.pl