Vice champion of Azerbaijan Superleague Lokomotiv Baku signed a one-year contract with the libero of Bulgarian National team Mariya Filipova. She was born on 10 September of 1982. Last week she won silver medal of European League where her team lost 3-1 in the final to the Serbian National team. Mariya Filipova was awarded as the "Best Libero" of that tournament.Last year her team finished third in European League. She played for Levski Siconco Sofia (BUL),RC Cannes (FRA), (BUL)Metal Galati (ROM)and won different titles of these countries. Mariya Filipova will be the second libero transfer of Lokomotiv Baku,as they have resigned the contract with the USA National team libero Nicole Davis. Lokomotiv Baku will participate in "GM Capital Challenge Cup".Building strong team they show their serious plans about this tournament. We wish success both Mariya and Lokomotiv Baku for the next season. For Mariya Filipova`s profile Click here
The USA National team player,outside-hitter Kristin Richards moves to Azerbaijan. She signs a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Baku where will play her teammates from National team Tayyiba Haneef-Park and Nicole Davis! Kristin Richards plays as an outside hitter and her height is 185 cm. She was born in 30 June,1985. Lokomotiv Baku will play the first match in "GM Capital Challenge Cup" against Kristin Richards` last team-Russian Omichka Omsk.
You may watch Kristin`s performance in the last set of this video! # 10
Today is the bithday of the Azerbaijan National team captain and the setter,Oksana Parkhomenko. Oksana Parkhomenko was born in 28 July 1984,in Baku and has been playing for Azerbaijan National team since 14 years-old and has been a captain of the team for 5 years. We wish Oksana the best in her own and sports life. She deserves the best wishes.Oksana Parkhomenko is a real leader player,open-hearted,sincere and warm person. Təbrik edirik,Oksana! Ad günün mübarək!
Personal information Full name Oksana Parkhomenko Nickname Oksi,Oksa Nationality Azerbaijan Born July 28,1984 Birth place Azerbaijan Height 185 cm Weight 77 kg Spike 310 cm Block 301 cm Volleyball information Position Setter Current club Dinamo Moscow Russia (2009/---) Number 4
Clubs: • 1999/00 Neftyag Baku Azerbaijan • 2000/01 Yeshilyurt Turkey • 2001/02 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Top Teams Cup) • 2002/03 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2003/04 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2004/05 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2005/06 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2006/07 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2006/07 Volero Zurich Switzerland (end of the season) • 2007/08 Azerrail Baku Azerbaijan ( European Champions league) • 2007/08 Fenerbahce Acibadem Istanbul Turkey (end of the season) • 2008/09 Fenerbahce Acibadem Istanbul Turkey (CEV Cup) • 2009/-- Dinamo Moscow Russia (European Champions league)
Achievements: • 2003/04/06 Boris Yeltsin Cup bronze medal (3rd place) • 2005 European Grand Prix Champion • 2005 European Championship 4th place • 2001-2002 “Top teams Cup” Champion • 2003-2004 “Champions League” 4th place • 2002-2005 Azerbaijan Champion • 2006-2007 Swiss League Champion • 2007-2008 Turkish League Vice-champion • 2008-2009 Turkish League Champion • 2008-2009 Turkish Cup silver Medal (2nd place) • 2008-2009 CEV CUP bronze medal (3rd place) • 2009-2010 Russian Cup Gold Medal (1st place) • 2009-2010 Russian Superleague Silver medal and Regular Season Champion
Individual awards: • 2005 Best setter and best server (WCH Qualification round) • 2006 Best Setter of World Grand Prix Preliminary Round • 2009 Best blocker (WCH Qualification Round) • 2008-2009 Best Setter of Turkish league • 2009-2010 Best Setter of Russian Cup • 2009-2010 MVP ( Russian All Star match)
Rabita BAKU will play several friendly matches with the National teams of Europe.The preparation plan of the team is ready: From the 24 August they will start preparations and will train in Baku Olympic Centre till the 4th September. All the players will join the camp except Kimberly Glass,Silvija Popovic,Natasa Krsmanovic and Mirela Delic. These players will join the team in November,after having played for their National teams in the World Championship. Second phase of preparation will be in another city of Azerbaijan,in Zagatala from the 5th September till the 18th. And from the 20th Septmeber till the 2nd of October Rabita BAKU team is planning to play control matches with different National teams. From the 4th October till the 20th november they are planning to play in different International tournaments and friendly matches with the European clubs. First match of the European Champions League Rabita BAKU will play in 23,24 or 25th November in Bucharest,against Romanian "Dinamo Romprest BUCHAREST". And the first home match of Rabita BAKU will be played in "Sarhadchi" Olympic Complex a week later.
Azerbaijan National team has a little chance to participate in the World Championship 2010 which will take place in Japan in October-November of this year. Azerbaijan can replace Croatian National team which was suspended from the European tournaments by CEV because of the debt of the Croatian Federation to the European Volleyball Confederation. CEV decided to suspend Croatian National teams,clubs and players from the tournaments which are played under CEV flag. The Croatian Federation tries to solve this problem with the help of National Olympic Commitee of this republic. Azerbaijan National team which finished 3rd last year`s Qualification round in Almere,Netherlands has a little chance to replace Croatian team if CEV sends its complaint about this case to FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball). Romania,Bulgaria,Spain and Belgium also finished the third in their pools,but Azerbaijan has the highest ranking among them. Anyway,this is just a probability,so let`s wait for the end of this story.
Last champion of Azeri Superleague Rabita Baku resigned contract with Ukrainian middle-blocker Lidiya Dyachenko (1986,182 cm).It will be the third season of Dyachenko in Azerbaijan. Lidiya Dyachenko: “I am very happy that I have stayed in Rabita Baku.It will be my third season in Azerbaijan. During this period I achieved many sweet victories that I will never forget. Rabita Baku is a new page in my life. This year we have a team much stronger than the previous seasons and of course that`s why we will try to take very serious aims both in Azerbaijan Superleague and in European arena. I know that it will be very difficult to compete in three fronts on high level, but we have very balanced team that will be able to solve all difficulties on its way. Many of the girls know one another, and being good friends off the court will help us to be a very good team on the court too. I have quite serious expectance from this season.
Bulgarian setter Diana Nenova: “Rabita Baku” has quite strong squad with many star players and I am very satisfied for choosing this team. I am also very glad to play in Azeri Superleague, because this league develops with high speed and becomes one of the strongest leagues in Europe.Many top class players will play there this season and I think we can learn many things from one another. I will play with Irina Zhukova, who is just a wonderful setter with great experience, and I hope to learn more from her.
German national team setter Kathleen Weiss (left) announced in an interview to the Brazilian web portal "Melhor do Volei" that she will spend the next season in Azerbaijan at "Igtisadchi" Baku team.
26-year-old Weiss spent last season in the Italian Serie A as part of Pallavolo Sirio Perugia team and was voted to the Italian league's All-Star team. In 2008, she was named the "Best Setter" of the World Grand Prix European qualification tournament.
In the interview, Weiss also noted that her Perugia teammate, Finnish outside hitter Riiko Lehtonen (right) will follow her to "Igtisadchi". 30-year-old Lehtonen is the most prominent figure in Finnish volleyball. Two time Champions League winner with RC Cannes, she also won Challenge Cup with Turkish Vakifbank Gunes (Lehtonen won the "Best Spiker" award), Italian and French national Cups and championships.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 23, 2010. Last year’s Azerbaijani champion and CEV Cup bronze medalist Rabita BAKU is set to play the CEV Champions League for the first time in history. The team has got very high ambitions for the most prestigious club competition worldwide. Rabita is not going to be satisfied just with participating in the Champions League, what is proved by the massive and relevant transfers that have been finalized this summer by the club. Although they already had quite a strong team last season, the Azerbaijani officials decided to renew the roster to reach out for even higher goals. Rabita BAKU kept in its roster three Serbian players, namely captain and outside-hitter Bojana Doganjic, opposite Sanja Starovic and libero Silvija Popovic plus Ukrainian middle-blocker Lidiya Dyachenko and renewed the contracts signed with the players who had joined the team for the final round of the Azerbaijani Super league, i.e. Serbian central Mira Golubovic and Latvian universal player Olga Tocko. Then Rabita started drawing other strong players from different countries. So, setters Irina Zhukova from Ukraine and Bulgarian Diana Nenova, plus a 2006 World champion from Russia, outside-hitter Natalya Kulikova, and Croatian middle-blocker Mirela Delic did all join the Azerbaijani team. But it was just the beginning and Rabita was going on to surprise all Volleyball fans with a real hammer. The President of Rabita, Mr. Jalil Jafarov, caused the biggest sensation of the season making international star Natalya Mammadova come back to her motherland. It was the best present by this team to all Azeri Volleyball lovers. Natalya Mammadova said that she was very happy to come back to her country and play for the honor of an Azerbaijani Volleyball club again. Just a few days later Rabita announced some more great news. Serbian star and middle-blocker Natasa Krsmanovic and Olympic finalist, one of the leaders of the USA national team, i.e. outside-hitter Kimberly Glass, also joined the team. The last transfer of Rabita was famous Serbian coach Dejan Brdjovic who has quite impressive results in his CV especially in such strong competitions like the CEV Champions League. With this transfer Rabita BAKU finished the completion of its roster for the new season promising hard and interesting matches to all Volleyball supporters living in Azerbaijan. According to the results of the DOL staged this past June in Vienna, the opponents of Rabita BAKU in the Champions League are: Scavolini PESARO (ITA), Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA (POL) and Dinamo Romprest BUCHAREST (ROU). Rabita will start the preparations for the new season in August, in different cities of Azerbaijan, playing friendly matches with some national teams and participating in several international tournaments in autumn.
Picture: Azerbaijan’s national star Natalya Mammadova is back to her home country after having played last year for Russia’s Dinamo KRASNODAR
For more information about Volleyball in Azerbaijan visit also www.azerivolley.com previous page top of page
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