In Stavropol from 1 to 7 November, the Russia Cup in Handball (deaf sports) was held at the local sports complex “Vostok-Arena”, which was attended by five teams from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd Oblast, Krasnodar, and Stavropol Krai.

Only men's teams participated in the tournament. By the decision of the refereeing, all games were played in a round-robin system. In such a format, each team tried not to lose in their head-to-head matches so as not to lose crucial points.

The debutants from St. Petersburg fought on equal terms with all the other teams in this national cup. The coach of the St. Petersburg team, Andrey Kitaev, himself a former professional player for the Stavropol Krai team, decided to develop handball in St. Petersburg after his career had ended. In just a few months he managed to turn the St. Petersburg boys into a strong team and took them to the tournament. Of course, this was an excellent opportunity for them to gain experience ahead of the upcoming national championship, as he confirmed in an interview!

And now let's move on to the Russian Cup. After two games against the main favourites, the Volgograd team fought for the third place. The Muscovites tried to challenge for the bronze medal at first. The battle with handball players from the capital was tense and unpredictable, but this time, Volgograd managed to take the lead, scoring 29-26. Then they met their rivals from St. Petersburg. In this match, the Volgograd team showed their spirit and defeated their opponents, 42-22.

As for the leaders, the Krasnodar and Stavropol teams confidently defeated their opponents step by step throughout the tournament. On the final day, they faced off against each other in a heated and uncompromising match. At home, the Stavropol players certainly came out with the mood to win, but unfortunately, they failed. The Kuban won by five points, with a score of 31-26, confirming their title as national champions once again.

Results:

1st place - Krasnodar Krai

2nd place - Stavropol Krai

3rd place - Volgograd Oblast

RESULTS OF ALL MATCHES

Text: Nurlan Tazhigulov, Maria Mazhenina

Photo: Vladimir Chernyavsky

Translation: Daria Kudelina