Fifth chance for Beijing Sport University to secure first points of the season

Beijing Sport University

Another tough match is in front of the newcomers from China. On Saturday, 5th of October, Beijing Sport University will meet with Slovakian Tatran Presov. Dom sportova 2 will once again be the place where Vlado Sola's squad will try to secure their first points of the season. 

So far, the team from China didn't have much luck with that. With four matches behind them, Beijing Sport University currently have 0 points and are placed on the bottom of the table in Group A. In both home and guest appearances, Beijing Sport University did not manage to win.

On the other side, Tatran Presov have two victories and two defeats so far. As they lost their most recent match against five-times SEHA champions Vardar, they will be eager to take the points and to rebuild their self-esteem. This season, the home appearances weren't so successful for the team from Presov. They lost 2 out of 3 matches on the home court. However, in the only guest appearance so far, Tatran Presov secured important victory. It will be interesting to see how will this away match end for Slavko Goluza's squad. 

This clash between well-known SEHA club and the newcomers from China will be streamed on Arena Sport (in Croatia), Arena Sport (in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia), Arena Sport (in Slovakia), Sport TV (in Slovenia) and ehfTV. 

Vlado Sola, Beijing Sport University coach:
Our next opponents are Tatran Presov. Over the last two months and the training rhythm we had, I have concluded that my team works better in the mornings, so the fact that we are playing earlier in the day may be good for us. I hope we can open the match better than we did in the previous clashes. The first half of the match used to be not so good, while the second half would be better. The opponents are extremely strong for us and a really good club in general. Once again, we will have a situation where we will fight for a better performance in the attack and the defense. Unfortunately, at the moment we can only present our qualities as much as our opponent allows. Still, I think we are on a good path. We watched the video of our last match - the movements in the attack are much better and we are progressing day by day. We get the best out of every match. What the result will be like on Saturday and what will be the ratio of goals scored and goals received I really can not say, but what I can is promise that I will push the team to play the way we played the second half in the last two matches from the very first minute of the court.

Liu Maike, Beijing Sport University goalkeeper:
I have to admit that we are on a different level of handball than our Saturday’s opponent. We will fight to show what we have practiced recently. We want to cooperate well with our coach and continue to progress by each match. We will try to play in the best way we can on Saturday.

Slavko Goluza, Tatran Presov coach: 
Beijing Sport University will surely put up a good fight on their home court. We must respect them. If we don’t approach the match properly, they will get “wings“. We need to look for fast breaks from defense and score easy goals. Contact, attack, defense and fast breaks must work well. So we have to enter the match with full concentration. There is nothing we should be scared of, but as I said, we must respect our opponent.

David Michalka, Tatran Presov player:
I had a look at Beijing Sport university matches. I don’t expect any easy match. Their team can run and they put up a good fight. They also work well with the pivot what causes us problems. That’s something we have to be careful about and must prepare for. There is no room for underestimating our opponent. If we let them get into the match, they will make it tough for us. So we must work hard from the first minute. I believe we can get the win and bring home points.