Ausra Fridrikas (born lt, Aušra Miklušytė; formerly Ziukiene; 30 April 1967 in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

) is a Lithuanian–Austrian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player and World champion from 1990. She first played for

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, later for

and finally for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. She was voted World Handball Player of the Year 1999Previous World Handball Players
'' (Retrieved on December 14, 2007) by the

International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...

. She was selected ''most valuable player'' at the 1999 World championship, where she participated on the Austrian team and received a bronze medal.

Personal life

Fridrikas married the Lithuanian international footballer

Robertas Fridrikas Robertas Fridrikas (born 8 April 1967) is a Lithuanian former football forward, who last played for WAF Procar in Austria during his professional career. Fridrikas was nicknamed ''Garrincha'', after the famous Brazilian winger, since his one l ...

, and their son

Lukas Lukas is a form of the Latin name Lucas. Popularity In 2013 it was the ninth most popular name for boys in Australia. Meaning and different spellings * Amharic - Luqas (ሉቃስ) * Arabic - Luqa (لوقا) / Luqas (لوكاس) * Armenian - Ղ ...

also plays football professionally.

References

1967 births Living people People from Varėna Soviet female handball players Lithuanian female handball players Austrian female handball players Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of Austria Lithuanian emigrants to Austria Austrian people of Lithuanian descent Expatriate handball players Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark {{Lithuania-sport-bio-stub