We never thought we’d see these classic pics of the one and only Lioubov Sokolova aka The Best Player in our generation.
Just a short trivia about the Russian superstar:
Lyuba has changed her last name 3 times since her debut with the Russian squad in 1996. She was introduced as Lioubov Sokolova and then changed it to Lioubov Kilic when she took some time off with the Russian team after the 2000 Olympics. In 2004, her jersey changed to Lioubov Chackova or Shashkova which she has kept since then.
Liuba has played in 4 Olympics: 1996 Atlanta (4th), 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing (5th). She has won 2 Olympic Silver medals in 2000 and 2004.
WATCH: The slide attack she’s known for.
Despite not having an Olympic gold on her resume, Liuba won the world title in 2006. Also, she’s the only player who has won 2 World titles in the same year: 2010 World Championship with Russia and 2010 World Club Championship with her current Turkish club team, Fenerbahce Acibadem.
Shashkova has won tons of individual awards with the Russian team and club teams. One of the most valuable awards she’s won in our opinion was being named as Europe’s Best Player in 2006.
After the 2010 international season, Shaskova has stated that she will not play with the Russian team in 2011. However, she addressed that if the Russian coach would ask her to play in the 2012 Olympics then she’d return. She better! She deserves to win an Olympic Gold.
Anyways, here are the classic pics of one of the most charismatic and the most talented players we’ve ever seen.
We found these pics from various forums with no sources. If you happen to own any of these pics, just send us a message and we’d be more than willing to remove it.
No copyright violation intended.
Cheers!