Champions League Women | 30 Nov 2016

LIU Jia returns to the Linz’s line-up

ECLW Round 5 is scheduled for December 1st and 2nd as double ECLW champion travels to Spain, to meet UCAM Cartagena in the Group B clash

 

The upcoming ECLW Round 5 will give some important answers concerning the 2016/17 quarter-finalists. TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE and TT SAINT QUENTIN are opening the round this Thursday, December 1st, while other three matches will be held on December 2nd.

 

 “Although the result of the match in Berlin is not as important as the one on December 16th versus POSTAS SPORT EGYESÜLET, SAINT-QUENTIN will play with his best possible team, including Singaporean ZENG Jian, Romanian Daniela MONTEIRO-DODEAN and German Ran LI KATH… who lives in Berlin! It is a real honor for us to challenge again the best European team, the 2016 ECLW Champion and seeded N°1 this season”, emphasized Jean-Louis POLARD, TT SAINT-QUENTIN team manager.

 

UCAM Cartagena and LINZ AG FROSCHBERG will fight for the top spot of Group B. Linz President Gunther RENNER explains situation in his club:

“First we conquered Cartagena surprisingly by 3:1, then also surprisingly we had big troubles against Bad Driburg. LIU Jia could not play in Germany because she had an inflammation under her shoulder. Now she is back again, that might help us to defend the lead in the Group B.  After a change in the line up of LINZ AG FROSCHBERG nobody knew what to expect from us, but until now Linda BERGSTRÖM, ZHANG Mo and last but not least the busy (Men`s, Women’s and Youth) Coach ZHANG Jie seems to be a winning selection. Traditionally we followed also this year our philosophy to work with the players in LINZ, to find a better team work, bring more happiness to the team and help the players to reach their peak performance at the right time”.

 

RENNER believes that his side is able to reach the semi-final at least:

 

“We don’t see us as defending old time records, but the tradition of never withdraw of the Champions League before the semifinal is something we try to defend”.

 

SZEKSZARD AC targets its third consecutive win in Group C, playing in Turkey, while BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR plays for its very first victory. Coach of Hungarian club Gyorgy SZILY stated:

 

“Before Round 5 of ECLW match against Bursa our team feel well prepared and glad about our position in the group. We have great team spirit and in last two matches everything is up to us. If we play our level we should secure first place in the group and get ready for quarter final match in January 2017. This is first time SZEKSZARD AC has made it to next round of Champions League so we feel very excited to fight for high places this season”.

 

Two favorites of Group D will meet in Poland, where KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg (2-1 score) awaits METZ TT (2-0). This clash should decide the winner of Group D. French side won their first game 3:1.

  

The 2016/17 ECLW Round 5 (December 1st-2nd)

 

Group A, Dec 1, 18:30: TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE - TT SAINT QUENTIN

Group B, Dec 2, 19:00: UCAM Cartagena – LINZ AG FROSCHBERG

Group C, Dec 2, 19:00: BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR - SZEKSZARD AC

Group D, Dec 2, 18:00: KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg – METZ TT