Þróttur Reykjavík – the most successful volleyball club in Iceland

Þróttur Reykjavík is the strongest team in Iceland, after participating finals in men’s and women’s first Icelandic division and became men and women champions in the second division.

 

 

The women’s volleyball team of Þróttur was very near to the title in the third game in Neskaupstaður while Reykjavik’s team was winning in the 4th set 24:20, but wasn’t able to make the last point and carry the match into tie-break. Þróttur Neskaupstaður beat girls from Reykjavík after 120 min. with the result 3:1 and became the champions of Iceland after a final round of three games /2 wins (3:0, 3:1), 1 lost (1:3)/.

 

 

The men’s final round had similar running. Þróttur lost the first game in Stjarnan 1:3, but won the second 3:2. In the third match Stjarnan was a dominating team in the court and won 3:0 and became the champions of Iceland (2 wins, 1 lost).

 

 

Þróttur Reykjavík had been two times just a step from achieving the title in first divisions. Þróttur Reykjavík with two silvers in men’s and women’s first division and two gold in men’s and women’s second division is the best volleyball club in Iceland, now days. There is no doubt.

 

Men’s team first division:

Aðalsteinn Einar Eymundsson

Antoine Lochet

Aron Bjarnason

Edgars Verkevics

Guðmundur Guðmundsson

Halldór Ingi Kárason

Ívar Örn Indriðason

Jóhann Sigurðsson

Jón Ólafur Valdimarsson

Kjartan Fannar Grétarsson

Masayuki Takahashi

Michael Overhage

Ralph Schonenberger

Sævar Már Guðmundsson

Valur Guðjón Valsson

 

 

Women’s team first division:

Agnieszka Wysokinska

Anna Pavliouk

Ásthildur Gunnarsdóttir

Birna Haraldsdóttir

Eva Firická

Evgenyia Zdravkova Demireva

Fjóla Rut Svavarsdóttir

Guðbjörg Sigrún Bergsdóttir

Guðrún Kristín Einarsdóttir

Íris Eva Einarsdóttir

Íris Kristinsdóttir

Kolbrún Björg Jónsdóttir

Lilja Jónsdóttir

María Rúnarsdóttir

Natalia Ravva

Nína Margrét Rolfsdóttir

Sunna Þrastardóttir

Sæunn Skúladóttir

Unnur Bryndís Guðmundsdóttir

Valdís Lilja Andrésdóttir

Valdís Anna Þrastardóttir

Þórdís Sif Sigurðardóttir

 

Men’s team second division:

Áki Ó. Thoroddsen

Birkir Elmarsson

Gunnar Árnasson

Harald H. Ísaksen

Haukur Snorrasson

Helgi Jökull Hilmarsson

Jón Árnasson

Knútur Þórhallson

Ólafur Haukur Þórólfsson

Óskar Aðalbjarnar

Páll Róbert Matthíasson

Páll Stefánsson

Sigurlaugur Ingolfsson

Þorsteinn Marel Júlíusson

 

Women’s team second division:

Berglind Þórhallsdóttir

Elín Kristmundsdóttir

Guðmunda Óskarsdóttir

Guðrún Kristmundsdóttir 

Gyða Björk Jónsdóttir

Hildur Björnsdóttir

Hulda Laxdal

Kristín B. Albertsdóttir

Kristín Gísladóttir

Margret Jónsdóttir

Natalia Ravva

S. Hafdís Ólafsdóttir

Stefanía Eiríksdóttir

Sveinhildur Helgadóttir

Védís H. Ármannsdóttir

Nordic films screened in New York

Scandinavia House in New York will be a witness of another Nordic screening movie show on April 17. And Iceland can´t be missing.

 

Despite Iceland is a small country, it has on of the most active film production in the world!

 

What is more, Icelandic short films are very popular in the world. Many of them will be screened next Thursday in Scandinavia House: Misty Mountain (2007) by Óskar Thór Axelsson, Thanks (2007) by Benedikt Erlingssson, Wrestling (2008) by Grímur Hákonarson, Whatever (2005) by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Dog (2007) by Hermann Karlsson, Rattlesnakes (2007) by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson and Anna (2007) by Helena Stefánsdóttir.

 

Directors Óskar Thór Axelsson and Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson will participate the show and they will be answering the questions after the screening which will be followed by a reception.

Icelanders live the longest in the world

According to new statistics released on April, Icelandic men live the longest in the world.

 

The spokesperson of Statistics Iceland, Olof Gardarsdóttir, reported that Icelandic men live even longer then Japanese men which had been holders of the world record before. The length of life of Japanese men is approximately 78.6 years, compared to 79.4 years for men in Iceland.

 

Icelandic women statistics are not so far away from released data of men. They live about 82.9 years, compared to average length of life of Japanese women – 86 years.

 

People in Japan and Nordic countries like Iceland, Sweden and Finland usually live long. What are the reasons of their length of life? Scientists say, it’s because these countries care about their health care system and because of a clean air (of course except of big cities like Tokyo). Geneticists claim it’s in the hereditary factor they are born with.

Þróttur Reykjavík beats HK and goes to play off finals

Þróttur volleyball women’s team met with HK in the second game of play off at crowded KHÍ home gym of Þróttur yesterday. Þróttur beat HK 3:0.

 

Everything looked different in the end of January when Þróttur lost in Digranes 2:3. HK´s  team approved their second position in Icelandic volleyball division. Despite of the march’s win over HK 3:1 and two wins over Fylkir, Þróttur finished on third place in the division. But these wins and exciting game against current Icelandic women volleyball leader Þróttur Neskaupstaður in the Cup semi-finals made Þróttur girls more self-confident on the court.

 

In spite of the yesterday result 3:0, Þróttur was not all the time better team on the court. In the second set HK was winning 5-15, but Þróttur didn’t resigned the seals. A great will for win of Þróttur brought about HK to lose the set in the end 25-22, with the same score as in the third set. After Saturday win 1:3 in Digranes and yesterday win 3:0, Þróttur women team had qualified for finals.

 

The first match of play off finals is on programme in Neskaupstaður on Saturday at 14.00, the second, in KHÍ (Reykjavík) on Monday at 19.30. In the case of tie, the third match will be held in Neskaupstaður on Wednesday.

 

Þróttur volleyball teams are in good run now. Men’s team can qualify for finals, too, in the case of win over KA tonight.

ÍR beats current Icelandic basketball champion KR

Reykjavík basketball rivals ÍR and KR met in the KR´s home gym, DHL Sports Hall, yesterday. To a miracle ÍR was a better team and after 8 years became the first team which deleted the current champion out of the finals. ÍR beat KR 93 – 74. 

The player of the game was Hreggvidur Magnússon who hit 11 of his 16 shots and made 29 points in the match. He warns other teams that ÍR is playing their best basketball ever. 

KR´s coach Benedikt Gudmundsson was very disappointed with himself and his team. According to him KR hadn’t been motivated enough for the game. 

The next opponent of ÍR will be Keflavík. Yesterday’s result says that ÍR can go far.

No April fool’s Joke: American tourist landed in Iceland by mistake

US tourist Russel Trocano planned to travel from US to Thórshöfn, the capital city of Faroe Islands. He supposed to change the plane in Reykjavík and then in Akureyri where he was finally supposed to take a plane to Thórshöfn. He was surprised when he finally landed in Langanes peninsula (Iceland) instead of Faroe Islands.

The airport staff couldn’t help him while thinking his friend who booked the flight only monkeyed him. But finally they realized that it is a big misunderstanding.
Trocano took a flight back to Akureyri where he decided to stay instead of going to Faroe Islands.
Airline Air Iceland like amend for his lost trip to Faroe Islands devised him a ticket to Grímsey Island.

Trucano told to Morgunbladid that he never thought the airplane ticket could be so expensive without even taking him out of the country. The cost of the one way ticket from Reykjavík to Thórshöfn is approximately 20 000 ISK (170 €).

Two men arrested for using fake cards

Two men were arrested at Keflavík International airport on Tuesday after discover they have almost 4 million ISK in their luggage.  

Thirty years old men from Romania and Germany were leaving for London when border police officer noticed something is wrong with these persons.  After discover of the money in their luggage, men were immediately arrested. They are suspected using the fake cards and for withdrawing a big amount of money from ATMs in the capital region during Easter holiday. 

Men have been taken into custody until next weekend when investigation will be hopefully carried forward.

Slovakia is ready for Iceland and wants to win

Head coach of Slovakian national football team Ján Kocian hopes that his team will win the first game in this year on Wednesday night.  Kocian nominated 18 players and didn’t make any changes in his nomination from the last friendly match with Hungary.  

He doesn’t know what to expect from Icelandic national team because Iceland is able to win hard games but also able to loose easily with such football dwarfs like Liechtenstein. Kocian compares Iceland to teams like Ireland or Wales with no lack for will. According to him the team of Slovakia must try to eliminate the most dangerous Icelandic player Eidur Smári Gudjonssen and try to make more combinations, because Iceland can easily destruct calm Slovakian way of play.  

The friendly match promises nice football with a will for win. Both teams need to win because they would like to rise in FIFA ranking.  

The head referee of the match will be Gerald Lehner with his assistants Raimund Buch and Dieter Muckenhammer from Austria.

Easter in Iceland

Easter customs in Iceland are not so special. There is almost no specific country’s tradition. During the holiday Icelanders enjoy their free time to be together or to have a family dinner.   

There will be no real holiday for Icelanders if they don’t travel. They usually go out of town or country. Icelanders loves travelling, indeed.  

Easter in Iceland begins with Holy Thursday as in many other countries of the world. The most offices closed this day and re-open their business on Tuesday. Only movie theatres stay open during the holiday.  

On Easter Sunday children receive a big Easter egg full of other sweet stuff inside from their parents and grandparents. Instead of lack of Easter Icelandic traditions, the holiday is quite nice business for shop-keepers. Chickens, rabbits, sheeps, of course big chocolate eggs (bigger means better) and other decorative symbols of coming spring can’t be missing in a house.

Football: Renewed Iceland team easy beats Faroe Islands

The match of two European football dwarfs finished better for Iceland.  

Iceland with five debutants in the national team was better for all 90 minutes. First 25 minutes the team of Faroe Islands was able to emulate with Iceland when they had several chances to score. Goalkeeper Adalsteinsson first capitulated 30 seconds before break when Jónas Gudni Sævarsson headed the ball into the net completely forgotten by Faroese defence. Iceland doubled they lead in second half when Benjamínsen touched Gudmundsson´s pass to into his own net. And 7 minutes later the comfortable indoor win in Kopavogur was sealed by Tryggvi Gudmundsson himself. 

Renewed Iceland’s squad with score 3 – 0 over Faroe Islands has plans to make good results in the next World Cup qualification and looks up for better than 89th position in actual FIFA ranking. The next friendly match of Iceland is on programme on Wednesday, 26^th March in Slovakia.