“It was not exactly the start we wanted, it was a big loss, but we are determined to do everything in our power to represent Ukraine at the highest level possible and we must improve in the next matches,” says Ukraine’s line player, Andriyana Naumenko, after the European side’s tough loss against Brazil, 20:35, in the opener at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 in Frederikshavn.

Since its maiden appearance at the IHF Women’s World Championship in 1995, Ukraine have featured in seven consecutive editions between 1999 and 2009, with their best result coming at Croatia 2003, the fourth place, a superb performance for a golden generation.

Yet since China 2009, Ukraine have failed to make it to the world handball flagship competition, announcing their return in style for Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, with a 66:24 aggregate win against Luxembourg in the Qualification Europe – Phase 1 and a 55:44 aggregate win against North Macedonia in the Qualification Europe – Phase 2.

However, dreaming big for a return between the top 10 sides in the world is still a long shot, as Ukraine have their own issues, especially with the current situation in the country, which sees the core of the squad – seven players coming from Galychanka Lviv – failing to get the much-needed playing time to make some fine tunings to their game.

Six other players are featuring in the Polish, Hungarian and Romanian leagues, as Ukraine are now trying to make do with everything they have at their disposal. Naumenko is one of them, having played in Romania since 2014.

Born 60 kilometres away from the Romanian border, she was one of the players which were brought in by CS Marta Baia Mare, following in the same path of Yuliya Dumanska, the current Romania goalkeeper, learning the new language, fitting in and gaining more and more experience.

Currently at HC Zalău, Naumenko (pictured above - No.17), who will turn 25 on 12 December, is certainly one of the most experienced players in the young Ukraine squad, trying to forge a path for the team to return to their previous glory.

“It was definitely not easy. I was very young, I could not speak Romanian at all, and it was very difficult to adapt, I was still a child. But I started learning – the music helped me a lot, I love music – and now I am well-settled and enjoying handball,” says Ukraine’s line player.

Indeed, she was one of the top scorers for her side in the loss against Brazil, but only the fact that Ukraine made it this far is a huge plus for a team which fell under the radar over the past few years, missing out on the tickets to the IHF Women’s World Championship for 14 years.

“Unfortunately, we have a few missing players, very experienced ones, like Iryna Glibko or Yevheniia Levchenko, who have a lot of experience. But the players who are here, everybody in fact, we are doing their best to represent Ukraine, to represent our country. We are very happy to be here and feature in this competition,” adds Naumenko.

The loss against Brazil has certainly been a wake-up call, especially as Ukraine went on the receiving end of a 0:9 unanswered run, which proved to be the pivotal moment of the match. The 15-goal loss might have been the worst-ever in the history of the IHF Women’s World Championship, beating the previous record set against Denmark, 16:30, at Italy 2001 by a single goal, but Naumenko and the whole Ukraine side believe better moments will be coming.

“We will learn something from this and we will do everything in our power to improve in the next matches. We will do it both for the team and for the amazing fans, which have come here, in Denmark, to support us, making a superb atmosphere. We are very grateful for them,” adds the Ukraine line player.

Ukraine still have their chances to progress to the main round, despite this painful loss against Brazil. With matches against Spain and Kazakhstan following, the European side virtually need only one win, in their last match against Kazakhstan, to seal a place between the top 24 teams in the world.

That might be achievable despite all the shortcomings for Ukraine, with Naumenko certainly believing that this is was not the best performance for the team.

“It was a cold shower, which we will learn something from,” concludes Naumenko.