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Olga Hoffmann's switch to Randers HK is official. The Fox Team Nord keeper has signed a three-year deal with the club.

On Randers' web site, it is maintained that the transfer has nothing to do with the speculation surrounding Christine Lindemann and her possible future in Sönderjyske HK.

Olga Hoffmann is 27 years old. Aside from Fox Team Nord, her previous clubs include Ferencváros and Cornexi Alcoa.

Finally! Bojana Petrovic has her own fan page.

Currently, there are both Danish and English versions. And it appears as if a Serbo-Croatian version will appear as well.

Looks great so far, although I have one nit to pick:

"Bojana has 3 times been the loosing part in a Champions League final, so everybody understands that her biggest wish is to win Champions League."

Say what?

Randers HK effectively grabbed the fourth championship playoff spot with a 34-27 (19-15) victory at home against Aalborg. GOG missed their last realistic chance after losing 36-33 (14-20) in Ikast.

FCK are also out of the game with the 34-26 (14-15) defeat in Viborg. Only one round remains of the regular season.

Randers HK - Aalborg DH 34-27 (19-15)
Randers: Steluta Luca 8, Chao Zhai 6 (1), Tanja Milanovic 6 (1), Laura Danielsen 3, Tatiana Silitch 3, Annie Andersen 2, Thea Hougesen 2, Lene Tönnesen 2 (1), Kathrine Munch 1, Lisa Rasmussen 1.
Aalborg: Natalia Derjugina 7 (2), Anniken Solberg 5, Rikke Nielsen 4, Erika Nilson 4 (2), Agnes Farkas 3 (1), Maren Villabö 2, Beatrix Benyats 1, Bettina Nielsen 1.
Suspensions: 3x2m, 0x2m.
Attendance: 3,094.

Slagelse FH - SK Aarhus 34-21 (15-9)
Slagelse: Bojana Petrovic 11, Camilla Andersen 7 (2), Anja Freser 5, Marie Höpfner 3, Sandra Folden 2 (2), Kamilla Kristensen 1, Marie Hansen 1, Stine Frank 1, Trine Larsen 1, Maja Mitrovic 1, Lene Möller 1.
Aarhus: Christina Körup Pedersen 12 (5), Helle Svensson 2, Julie Transel 2, Karina Björn 2, Camilla Lund 2, Stine Qwist 1.
Suspensions: 0x2m, 5x2m.
Disqualification: Karina Björn, SK Aarhus.
Attendance: 1,216.

Viborg HK - FCK Handball 34-26 (14-15)
Viborg: Olga Assink 9 (2), Lotte Kiärskou 7 (4), Henriette Mikkelsen 6, Natasja Burgers 3, Leila Lejeune 3, Camilla Thorsen 2, Helga Nemeth 2, Saskia Mulder 2.
FCK: Christina Krogshede 6 (2), Matilda Boson 5, Elly an de Boer 5 (1), Camilla Thomsen 3, Gitte W. Nielsen 2, Lene Tobiasen 2, Mette Vestergaard 2, Sofie Steffensen 1.
Suspensions: 2x2m, 3x2m.
Attendance: 1,977.

Ikast/Bording EH - GOG 36-33 (14-20)
Ikast: Sanja Jovovic 10 (5), Line Daugaard 6 (1), Tonje Kjärgaard 5, Narcisa Paunica 5 (1), Isabel Blanco 4, Bettina Andersen 2, Sara Hansen 2, Josephine Touray 1, Trine Jensen 1.
GOG: Krisztina Nagy 9, Monique Feijen 8 (5), Birgit van Os 4, Pearl van der Vissel 3, Ragnhild Aamodt 3, Lene Lund Nielsen 2, Tina Flognman 2, Winnie Mölgaard 2.
Suspensions: 3x2m, 4x2m.
Disqualification: Lene Lund Nielsen, GOG
Attendance: 1,825.

Ikast captain Tonje Kjärgaard announced her retirement from handball at the end of the season at a press briefing Wednesday. The 29-year-old wishes to dedicate more time to her concluding studies in microbiology and thought it was the right time to call it quits.

After 12 years in Ikast, the staunch pivot has shown a great dedication to the club and will always be intertwined with its rise to the top of Danish and European club handball.

In addition to four Danish Cup victories, Kjärgaard has won nine Danish Championship medals, five bronze, three silver, and one of gold - in 1998. On the European stage, she helped Ikast to triumphs in the Super Cup and the City Cup in 1998 as well as the EHF Cup in 2002.

The former Denmark captain celebrated her greatest achievements with the national team where she was a fixed feature from 1994 to 2000. Playing 139 matches, she won top honours at five major championships, including double Olympic gold.

In a somewhat surprising announcement, coinciding with the revelation of the retirement, she has made herself available for the Olympic team in case Jan Pytlick's current side is hit with injuries on the pivot position.

That would indeed be a fitting goodbye.

Nordstrand 2000 have filed a report with the European Handball Federation to complain about the behaviour of Akva Volgograd's coach Levon Akapian.

They accuse him of hitting and kicking his players during the EHF Cup match in the past weekend in Oslo.

"I was at the court, I think it was the middle of the first half, and there I noticed that he repeatedly hit one of the girls in the face," Nordstrand's star wing Monica Sandve explains to Norwegian TV 2.

Next to her handball career, Monica Sandve works as a police officer.

"I get reports on my job involving much milder cases than what we witnessed here in our arena Saturday."

During the traditional post-match banquet the Volgograd players were not allowed to eat anything except for some fruits.

"The girls sat quietly without saying a word. When we left I suppose they were loudly reprimanded," keeper Heidi Tjugum adds.

TV2/Nettavisen has put a video online that purportedly documents the charges made by the Nordstrand camp. However, both registration and payment is needed to view it, and it appears you need to live in Norway.

Maybe Monica Sandve should have arrested the guy. That could perhaps have taught him some respect for female handball players.

In any case, the club should let him go immediately as he's an embarrassment to both himself and Dinamo-Akva if they endorse this type of behaviour. The Russian school of coaching is indeed a different one.

But even the "Howling Bear" of volleyball, Nikolai Karpol, never went so far to my knowledge.

Viborg HK are making their intentions for next season ever clearer. Today the club declared on its web site that it has signed Chao Zhai of Randers HK on a three-year deal.

The Chinese World Handball Player 2002 leaves Randers prematurely as she had more than two years left of her engagement with the club. Viborg explain that they have been negotiating with Randers for a while about the size of the transfer fee.

Chao Zhai scored 205 goals in 22 matches last season, a feat only bettered by Camilla Andersen. This year she is also second on the list of top scorers, only a few goals behind Bojana Petrovic.

The surprising move comes just a few days after qualified speculation that Tanja Milanovic, another Randers star, is headed for Ikast. These transfers could very well stem from the fact that the club has had a tumultuous season.

The firing of coach Morten Arvidsson in January had little backing in the squad and was seen as another sign of an erratic club management.

Viborg's hiring of Chao Zhai makes it even more likely that Leila Lejeune is indeed leaving the club in favour of FCK Handball.

Stephanie Cano makes a quick return to Spanish handball after the Olympic Games. The French world champion abandons Slagelse in favour of Alsa Elda Prestigio, the club declared on its web site today.

The two parties reached the agreement when the team from Elda visited Copenhagen to play FCK in the Cup Winner's Cup this weekend. The right wing has so far had the majority of her first and only season in Slagelse spoiled by a pesky foot injury.

Handballsite.com yesterday raised the very interesting possibility of Tanja Milanovic abandoning Randers HK in favour of Ikast/Bording EH.

Milanovic has been one of the most successful new arrivals in Denmark this season, and it's not farfetched to imagine that the management in Ikast has the Serbian left back in mind as a replacement for Narcisa Paunica who is moving to Aalborg.

Europamester.dk are no slouches. They have already put up a freshly updated list of the top scorers in the Danish League after 20 of 22 rounds in the regular season. Having led most of the way, Chao Zhai has suddenly been bumped into second spot by the phenomenal Petrovic.

Top 10:

1. Bojana Petrovic, Slagelse FH, 163
2. Chao Zhai, Randers HK, 161
3. Agnes Farkas, Aalborg DH, 125
4. Olga Assink, Viborg HK, 121
5. Rikke Hörlykke, GOG, 116
6. Ausra Fridrikas, Slagelse FH, 113
7. Camilla Andersen, Slagelse FH, 109
8. Aasa Eriksson, Horsens HK, 109
9. Natalija Deriouguina, Aalborg, 103
10. Anja Kristensen, Fox Team, 92

Champagnebold.dk has uploaded a boat load of video caps from an appearance by Rikke Hörlykke on a Danish gameshow. Her task was to make a quick buck (or krone) as a salesperson. At page 7, she runs into Camilla Andersen.

I didn't know until yesterday, but it seems that Timea Tóth has a fan page. Looking at the page, it's safe to say that she unequivocally has a fan page.

And blimey, the Dunaferr pivot Anita Kulcsár also has a site dedicated to her. The Romanian player Cristina Gisca from Cornexi-Alcoa has also attracted a following on the web. You may need to activate your pop-up stoppers unless you are into casino ads.

I'll put them into the link section.

Katalin Pálinger recently participated in a chat session with the news site [origo] where she offered some insights into her handballing career and plans for the future. Among other things.

The Dunaferr keeper denied the existence of a "Hungarian curse" that doomed the national team to lose the big finals in the crucial moments. And she had a few words to say about national team coach Lajos Mocsai who has not excaped criticism for some of his decisions in those finals.

"He is absolutely a good coach from a professional view. He has everything about this sport at his fingertips. From a human viewpoint, he also tries to strike the right note with the team. Many people hold him responsible for the two lost finals. I'd hereby like to tell them that you still have to get through to the finals somehow."

Pálinger predictably aroused the attention of a number of clubs after her performance in Croatia - here she confirms that Krim and Slagelse were among the interested parties.

"I got four offers from Denmark. From FCK, Randers, Slagelse, the fourth one's name doesn't come to my mind. And from Ljubljana."

The Hungarian goalie turned down the foreign interest and extended her engagement with Dunaferr. On the private front, she also has a serious engagement - to an ice hockey player. They plan to marry and perhaps start a family in the not-so distant future.

"I'd like to carry through to the European Championships anyway, but I'm about to plan my family as well. My fiance and I wanted to marry this summer originally but the lack of free time prevents it."

The 25-year-old Pálinger hopefully has many years of handball left in her, but she is thinking ahead to life after handball.

"I don't want to continue after 33, but who knows maybe it will last one year more, or maybe I will retire earlier, I don't know yet. I pretend to be fortunate because it seems I can establish my future by getting an enterprise under way. My dream is a private kindergarden."

Despite her success in 2003, where she peaked at the World Championship, Pálinger was one of the most notable absentees from IHF's shortlist of candidates for the title of World Handball Player. Asked whether she deserved a place there, she replies:

"I've been asked about it many times. Just the fact that my name is brought up in regards to this issue is nice. Danish experts asked me who the hell in the Federation doesn't like me. I hope it is not a thing I have to worry about. By the way, I don't care about such extra awards."

The Hungarian Player of the Year 2003 will undoubtedly want to take on extra step up the podium this summer in Greece when the Athens Games gets underway, but she is cautious about raising the expectations too much:

"Everybody is talking about gold. After a World Championship like this, it is comprehensible. But we have to work a lot to get through to the final. Many things will have to work out for us to play as well again. What I can promise is that we will do our utmost."

The most infamous goal Pálinger ever conceded happened at the European Championship 2002 when Norway's Katja Nyberg scored on a free throw 3 meters from the half-way line to win the match. During the chat session she was asked if she is yet to have "digested" that peculiar incident:

"With difficulties, especially because I am reminded of that regularly. :)"

FTC Handball has put two galleries from Ferencváros-Slagelse online. My favourite: Camilla does know how to defend as Olivia Kamper found out on this instance.

And Rosenkilde captured Ikast-Ferrobus Mislata for posterity. Favourite pick: Anna Ejsmont from 7-meters with Tonje Kjärgaard looking on.

Diane Lamein leaves TV Lützellinden in favour of VFL Oldenburg next season, Handball-World reports. The Dutch national team player turned down offers from two other Bundesliga clubs as well as a Danish bidder. The flexible backcourter signed a one-year contract.

Anja Andersen notorious middle finger was once again on prominent display immediately after yesterday's loss to Ferencváros in Budapest. The recipient of Andersen's trademark gesture was a man who suddenly appeared next to Slagelse's bench in the seconds after the match.

Slagelse's web site calls the incident a "scandalous security flaw" on part of the organizing club.

An excerpt:

"Ferencváros had simply forgot to post security guards at the team benches, and a spectator ran up and assaulted Slagelse FH's coach, Anja Andersen, verbally. The man had completely lost his temper and yelled Anja right in the face, presumably mocking the coach of SFH over the loss.

Anja replied in her well-known fashion, while representatives from Slagelse FH went between them - allowing Anja to get ínto the locker room. Subsequently, the man easily broke through the security precautions of the Hungarians and made it to the hallway next to Slagelse's locker room.

When asked by Slagelse staff what he was doing there, he explained that he was a reporter, but he would not identify himself. Neither with a press card or by stating his news medium. Before Slagelse could get hold of the sparse security team, he ran away and disappeared into the crowd.

Now that it did happen, we can fortunately say that it was only a verbal assault. But that kind of event must never, ever happen again. Of course, the incident has been reported to the European Handball Federation."

Romanian wing star Cristina Varzaru will be reinforcing Nordstrand 2000 next season, according to a report by Handballsite.com.

The 24-year-old right wing was part of the Rapid Bucuresti squad that almost upended Viborg yesterday. The technically well-equipped Varzaru hurt her wrist in the first half of that match, but the injury does not appear to be a serious one.

Ranked second in the league, Nordstrand have publicly proclaimed that they want to challenge Larvik's supremacy in Norwegian club handball in the coming years.

Besides hauling in Varzaru, Nordstrand are also close to signing Czech national team playmaker Lucie Fabiková, Handballsite.com reveals. Nordstrand already have the young Czech right back Iva Zamorska in their line-up.

Sorina Teodorovic has recently declared that she would like to move back to Oslo where she owns a house with her husband. With Nordstrand's buying spree in mind, she could also be a realistic subject.

There will be live scores from the EHF Cup quarterfinal match between GOG/Gudme and Gyõri Graboplast ETO KC at live.handball.hu from 13:00 today (look at middle of page, under "Női EHF-Kupa").

On Nordstrand's web site, the match between Volgograd and the Norwegians will be covered "live" as well. That one begins at 14:00.

Buducnost Monet's left wing Maja Savic has already signed a contract with Slagelse FH, DR Sporten reports.