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USAPress release
Coaches ready for tough competition in Nagano
The coaches of Kenya, Germany, Korea, Brazil, Serbia and USA at the press conference in Nagano on Thursday
Nagano, Japan, November 3, 2011 – Nagano City will host nine World Cup matches starting from Friday involving world No. 1 Brazil, world No. 2 the United States, fifth-ranked Serbia, ninth-ranked Germany, No. 13 Korea and No. 15 Kenya.
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The coaches of the six teams held a press conference on Thursday and outlined their hopes for the tournament, which also serves as an Olympic qualifier. The top three teams will qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in London.
Veteran Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes said the Olympic spots available via the World Cup were uppermost in his mind: “With the World Cup we have the first possibility to qualify for the Olympics, so it’s an important tournament. This is important for us for next year; we have to think about the Olympics.”
USA coach Hugh McCutcheon agreed with his Brazilian counterpart: “I think the overall goal for all the teams is to qualify for the London Olympics. We’re happy to be here and excited to be playing, but we have many difficult matches in the tournament. We’ll take it one match at a time and see what happens.”
Serbian coach Zoran Terzic said he was confident his in-form team would continue to do well in the World Cup: “We’ve had a very good season and played very well and I think we can continue like this in the World Cup.”
Germany’s Italian coach Giovanni Guidetti noted how hard it was to qualify for the World Cup: “We are very happy and proud to be here because it was very difficult for us to get here, as qualifying for the World Cup in Europe is tough. It’s also exciting because it’s the first World Cup for me and all my players. We want to do well and use every chance to move up the FIVB rankings and to qualify for the Olympics.”
Korean coach Kim Hyung-Sil also said qualifying was tough: “We had a tough time qualifying with our athletes in Korea, but this series serves as qualifiers for the Olympics, so we will do our best in every match.” Kim said powerful spiker Kim Yeon-Koung would be the key player in determining Korea’s progress in the tournament.
African champions Kenya, who have shot up to 15 in the FIVB rankings, are hoping to make their presence felt in the tournament.
“Our objective in this competition is to improve the level of African volleyball,” Kenya coach Paul Bitok told the media. “We would like to make an impact in this World Cup. We will try our best to take some sets from Brazil, Germany and Serbia and if we have the chance, we are ready to win matches. In general, we expect to improve our ranking and win some matches before the end of the World Cup.”
First-day matches (Nov. 4)
Serbia v Korea
FIVB World Grand Prix bronze medalists Serbia – currently ranked fifth in the world – open their Olympic quest campaign against No. 13 Korea, the bronze medalists at this year’s Asian Continental Championship. The European champions blanked Korea 3-0 when the sides faced each other in Tokyo during the preliminary round of the WGP. Serbia’s roster includes Jovana Brakocevic and Milena Rasic, the Best Scorer and Best Spiker, respectively, at the annual premier women’s event, while Korea’s main attacking force is Kim Yeon-Koung, the Best Scorer and Best Spiker at the Asian competition.
Zoran Terzic: “We’ve played Korea four or five times recently and won every time, but it will be a tough game for us and also a very good game, but we hope we can continue with our good results against Korea.”
Kim Hyung-Sil: “We lost 3-0 to them last time out, so we will do our best to raise our fighting spirit and see what we can do.”
Kenya v Germany
The last time Kenya and Germany were put together on a volleyball court was 20 years ago at the 1991 World Cup when the Europeans triumphed in straight sets. Currently ranked No. 9 in the world, the European silver medalists are rated as heavy favorites for this contest against the African champions. The German side features the trio of Margareta Kozuch, Christiane Fürst and Angelina Grün – Best Spiker, Best Blocker and Best Receiver, respectively, at the 2011 European Championship. Kenya’s Bracksides Khadambi is the inspirational leader of the emerging African side.
Giovanni Guidetti: “We don’t know Kenya very well as we haven’t played against them in competition for a while, although we did play against the Prisons team a few weeks ago, but we’ll just try to prepare as usual.”
Paul Bitok: “We expect a tough match because Germany are ranked above us, but we are going to challenge them tomorrow.”
United States v Brazil
The opening day in Nagano features a clash between two of the giants of the women’s game, with world No. 1 and Olympic champions Brazil up against two-time FIVB World Grand Prix champions and world No. 2 the United States. The last time the two squads disputed a match – in the final of the 2011 Grand Prix – the Americans emerged victorious with a 3-0 win. In a team loaded with players with Olympic experience, USA’s Destinee Hooker and Logan Tom join forces to form a lethal offensive tandem, but Brazil’s Sheila Castro and Mari Steinbrecher represent formidable opposition.
Hugh McCutcheon: “Tomorrow, we face Brazil, the No. 1 team in the world and we know it will be a tough match for us. Brazil present opponents with many challenges, but we’ll do our best and see what happens.”
Ze Roberto: “We have a tough match against USA tomorrow. They have a very good team – their block and defence is very good and it’s a fast team. So it’s a very good match to see and play and I’m waiting for my team to play a good match. It’s important to start well.”
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