Czech Republic are in only their sixth IHF Women’s World Championship since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 which brought an end to the golden era of women’s handball in the region. 

Back in 1957, Czechoslovakia won the very first IHF Women’s World Championship but since the 1995 edition, when Czech Republic debuted as a newly-independent nation, they have only been able to finish as high as 13th.

In fact, since 2001, Czech Republic have only qualified twice for the final tournament, but in 2017, Jan Basny’s team are within touching distance of the being one of the final 16 teams left in the Eighth-Finals.

They find themselves in that position thanks to two strong wins in Group B, against Argentina (28:22) in their opener, and then Poland (29:25) the following day.

While the focus may be on the dominant scoring and assist performance of Iveta Luzumova (22 goals and assists after two matches, joint second in the list), one of the key, often overlooked, jobs is that of the advanced defender in a 5-1 defensive system which Basny has used to great effect so far.

Centre back Sarka Marcikova has undertaken that role for the Czechs and despite having registered just 23 minutes under her belt in the two hours of games so far, the 25-year-old is happy with her experience at the EgeTrans Arena in Bietigheim-Bissingen so far.

“I have to say I like this defence because I can make my own moves,” said the 1,76m player. “I think I can read the game a little bit in this type of defence. I like it, I steal some balls and I hope I continue to play well in this position.”

While Czech Republic faced the least experienced side in Group B in their opening match - their six-goal win over Argentina (28:22) was quickly forgotten - a tougher task awaited them in their second match, as they faced Poland, who had defeated Sweden the previous day. But the Czech side passed the test, winning by four against the Poles – an extra-special victory for Marcikova, who plays her club handball in Poland for SPR Pogon Szczetin.

“We weren’t celebrating so much because we had to start concentrating on the next match as we knew Poland would be harder,” said Marcikova about the Argentina victory, “but we celebrated a little after the Poland win.

“I was looking forward to the game because of playing in Poland I know a lot of players there, so it was a little bit more emotional for me.  It doesn’t mean anything more that we beat them as nothing is certain for us that we can qualify out of the group with the victory, but I think in this group almost everyone can be everyone, so it will be very interesting to see what happens over the next matches.”

Finding themselves down against Poland for large parts of the 60 minutes, Czech Republic dug in deep for the final quarter and managed to come back strongly and take an emphatic win in the end, a true show of team spirit and belief, something which Marcikova firmly believes in.

“I feel so happy [with the win against Poland] because it was a very emotional match as we were losing all the time,” said Marcikova, who already has four assists and two steals to her name.

“It was hard for us to come back into the game but in the end, we were finally leading. We have a very strong team mentally as we support each other all the time and with this part of our game we are very strong – we played like a team and never gave up.”