In their second SEHA - Gazprom League season, Ukrainian champions Motor Zaporozhye have managed to book their premier SEHA Final 4 appearance. Zadar tournament came as an icing on the cake of a great season for coach Gintaras Savukynas and his players. Ukrainian champions finished fifth after EHF Champions League group stage behind Barca, Telekom Veszprem, THW Kiel and Aalborg Handbold – with Nantes, Celje PL and PPD Zagreb behind them. They were very close to knocking Belarus team Meshkov Brest out of the competition in the Round of 16 after a triumph in the first leg in Zaporozhye, but they lost by 7 at home which ended their European journey.

SEHA - Gazprom League Semi-Final will see reigning champions Telekom Veszprem battling it out against the Zaporozhye side in their way towards the grand finale. Motor are, as always, very optimistic due to their aggressive style of play which could surprise Momir Ilic and his squad.

Motor dominated Group B, finishing first with 12 points which helped them secure a direct ticket for the Quarter-Final. There they managed to cruise past SEHA veterans Tatran from Presov which additionally boosted them with confidence and belief that they can go all the way.

The team is led by an experienced playmaking duo - Aidenas Malasinskas and Barys Pukhouski – who always find ways to do more on the court. Wingers and line players are two of their biggest strengths – Zakhar Denysov and Oleksandr Kasai on the left, Artem Kozakevych, Iurii Kubatko and Eduard Kravchenko on the right. Dmytro Tiutiunnyk, Ivan Burzak and Viacheslau Bokhan, who play at the 6-meter line have also been delivering on both sides of the court along with Carlos Molina Cosano – their defensive specialist. Dmytro Horiha, Jonas Truchanovicius, Vladylsav Dontsov and Luka Sebetic will be running the show on the back positions, while helping out on defense. Their fans will expect a lot from their goalies – Ivan Maroz, Gennadiy Komok and Maxym Vyunyk – because they played marvelous this season.

Motor is overally a well-rounded mix of experience and young, strong individuals, so it will be interesting to see whether they’ll manage to defeat the biggest favorite of this competition - Telekom Veszprem. If they accomplish that, going all the way would become their only priority.

KEY PLAYERS

Aidenas Malasinskas

Aidenas Malasinskas is the leader of this Motor team. He is orchestrating the offense in a way which makes him very hard to defend because he is both a prolific scorer and an outstanding playmaker. His best match was probably the one against Vojvodina in which he went for six goals, four assists with 3/3 from the seven-meter line. A lot will depend on him and he has in the last season proved he definitely is a guy Motor can go to in those key, decisive moments.

Barys Pukhouski

Having an experienced playmaker in great. Having two however is the real deal and Motor have them in Malasinskas and Pukhouski. Strong, very hard to defend, important on both sides of the court. Versatile and able to provide just what coach Savukinas and his teammates need from him in any given moment. Slowing him and Malasinskas down means slowing down Motor but, as we can see from their results last season, it is much easier said than done.