Varvara Semina: Return to Europe Is a Big Chance
CSKA and Russia left back Varvara Semina says facing Serbia in October and the Bulgaria tournament in November will help her team regain competitive rhythm.
Varvara Semina, left back for CSKA and the Russian national team, says the coming away trips to Europe feel unfamiliar after years cut off from the continent.
The Russian women's team plays Serbia in Belgrade on 22 and 24 October, two friendlies before a November trip to Bulgaria. The IHF has invited Russia to the Nations Trophy there, running 25-29 November.
Serbia sit second in the European Championship qualifying group, on 8 points from six matches, and arrive as the kind of opponent Semina says the side needs right now.
Recent Russian fixtures had been limited to friendlies against Belarus, home and away. The IHF lifted its restrictions on Russian teams in July.
Two matches against a team of Serbia's standing, followed by a multi-team tournament in Bulgaria, would give Russia its first sustained run of competitive games against European opposition since the ban. What it yields depends on how the side copes with that gap in match practice once the whistle goes in Belgrade.
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