Sergey Shishkarev Takes Part in Meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport

On Thursday, November 12, the Kremlin hosted a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport.

Sergey Shishkarev, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Handball Federation, addressed the meeting, speaking about the recent successes of Russian handball on the international stage and the upcoming premiere of a documentary celebrating the Russian women’s national team’s triumph at the 2016 Olympic Games:

“Of all Russia’s national teams in team sports, the Russian women’s junior handball team was the only one to earn the right to compete internationally—at the World Championship held in Morocco in October—and went on to win the bronze medal. I congratulate all of us on this achievement. In late October, the senior women’s national team played two matches in Serbia, competing under the Russian flag and with the Russian national anthem, and celebrated two victories. Earlier this week, the Russian men’s national team returned from Tunisia, where it won an international tournament after defeating the teams of Tunisia and Japan.

We all look back on 2016 with bated breath. Mr President, you described our women’s national team as ‘Cinderellas’ after they won Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro. This year, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of that glorious victory, and just a few days ago we completed work on a documentary dedicated to this achievement. The film is titled ‘Miracle in Rio.’ We can only imagine how demanding your schedule is, but our entire national team would like to present the film to you and show you the tears we shed, how proud we were of our team, and how proud we intend to remain in the run-up to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.”

The documentary “Miracle in Rio” will premiere in Moscow on November 20 and will become available on the Okko streaming platform the following day.