Wolfgang Pichler becomes head coach of the Russian women’s team until 2014

Today Wolfgang Pichler has been appointed the head coach of the Russian women’s biathlon team. The executive director of the Russian Biathletes’ Union Sergey Kushchenko reached the final agreement with the 56-year-old German coach today, visiting him in Munich.

Speaking live on Russia-2 television channel, Kushchenko stated: «Today we reached the agreement with Pichler that he will take charge of the Russian women’s team until 2014.»

The relevant contract with the Russian sports ministry will be signed in the nearest future.

Pichler himself said he had doubts on whether to accept the Russian offer but finally yielded to the persuasion: «This is an honour for me to coach a great team which will be taking part in its domestic Olympic Games soon. For me it is the last chance to try something different, but I have been thinking a lot about this offer having even lost my sleep for nearly a week.»

«Now I will start building a new team. I want to show Russians that you can perform well and get the results without any doping,» said Pichler according to SVT.