BIOGRAPHY
Irina Poltoratskaya is a multiple world and EHF Champions League winner, whose club career began in Rostov in 1997 when she was 18 years old. At Rostov, Poltoratskaya won her first of five Russian championships; she added another three during three seasons at Lada Togliatti.
Poltoratskaya sustained a knee injury at Togliatti, but in 2004 Anja Andersen persuaded her to join Slagelse in Denmark. After surgery, Poltoratskaya was able to feature in Slagelse’s EHF Champions League campaign in 2004/05, winning the title.
She returned to Russia in 2006 for four successful seasons at Zvezda Zvenigorod, winning the Champions League again in 2008 as well as the EHF Cup and a fifth Russian championship title in 2007.
Poltoratskaya was part of the Russian national team during its heyday in the early 2000s. She won three World Championship gold medals for Russia, in 2001, 2005 and 2007, and was All-star centre back of the 2001 World Championship. On top of that, Poltoratskaya won silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and silver and bronze at the EHF EURO in 2006 and 2008.
Poltoratskaya is now retired, but remains connected to handball - especially as she is married to legendary left wing Timur Dibirov.
