By Rasmus Holm Thomsen
Three of the stars on the Belarusian team have decided to stop playing for the national team. The three players are Silich, who plays for Randers HK, the captain of the Belarusian team, Kalpaklova, and a third player whose name is not yet known to the journalists. Furthermore, Ala Matushkavits who plays for Kolding IF, sets a condition; she will only continue playing if she is not to play wing.

A chaotic Euro 2002 is the reason why the four players have decided to stop their careers. Ala Matushkavits argues that the Belarusian coach during the last nine years, Leonid Grusko, who died on the 16th of November, was 'not only the man who built the team but also a father to all the players'. The new coach, Valeriy Pevnitskiy, has been much discussed on the Belarusian team. Ten days before Euro 2002, he chose to change strategy. Official Stefan Bögel, who has been part of the team since 1993, says that 'in only 20 minutes, nine years of work was destroyed.'

The players do not understand why the strategy that they have been following the last nine years has to be changed. 'Especially the young players had difficulty with change of strategy. They have fought hard to learn our old play systems and to learn them by heart', says Ala Matushkavits. Moreover, she is very disappointed with the fact that the new coach did not know the team beforehand. 'He has never seen the team and does not know the players', argues Matushkavits.

The future for the team does not look that bright. Stefan Bögel believes that it is a good idea to learn new systems, but not ten days before a European Championship. He goes on arguing that there is no young talent to build on. 'When these four players stop on the national team, Belarusian women's handball will disappear for quite some time. There are only five clubs in Belarus and talented players are not found every day. The level is low, so it is not realistic to believe in good results in the near future. There is no future' argues Stefan Bögel. Matushkavits agrees. 'The team is discouraged and difficult times lie ahead for Belarusian women's handball. There is not enough money and the players are tired of spending their spare time on the national team - especially when everything is as bad as now.'