After their 29:25 quarter-final victory over Denmark at Poland 2018 yesterday night, Russia coach Liubov Sidoricheva spoke at length about the victory and tournament so far.

"This was our most difficult victory at Poland 2018," said Sidoricheva. "The match against the Netherlands was not easy too, but the Denmark was not comparable - firstly psychologically and also physically.

"Lena Mikhaylichenko and Valeriia Maslova were tired, so we needed to inject fresh blood - we had already given our leaders a break against Tunisia (in the eighth-finals) and gave more time to Elena Smirnova and Valeriia Kirdiasheva.

"We felt that it was high time that Lera, with her potential, should finally show herself," continued Sidoricheva to rushandball.ru. "She did it and in the end and it helped a lot - the same can be said about Smirnova as she entered the game confidently in the first half to the position of right-winger instead of Maslova and threw the most important balls. That was when we first got our rivals and then stepped forward."

As the Russian side get ready for their clash with Sweden tomorrow, Sidoricheva knows that the preparation is everything, after they left the court late on Thursday evening.

"It is necessary to distract the girls from the audience as the tournament is long and they have time to get bored," she said. "Fatigue is accumulating but the atmosphere in the team is amazing. 

"We have all been living together with songs, dances and music. On Saturday afternoon we will visit the centre of Kielce and the main pedestrian street - we'll take a walk, have lunch, then sleep. 

"At the request of the team we'll watch one of the sports films we brought with us," she revealed. "'Ice', 'Going Vertical', 'Legend Number 17'or 'Trainer' but after that, we will prepare seriously for Sweden."