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Koreans must produce "A" game in pool of champions
 Visakhapatnam,
India, August 4, 2005 - When Korea's head coach, Lee
Kyung-Suk, was asked to comment on the condition of his
team, his reply was straight to the point.
"We have no condition," he said, shortly after a practice at
the main competition venue for the FIVB Men's U21 World
Championship on Thursday evening.
"We have been on many, many airlines in one and a half days.
We left Seoul at 9 o'clock on Wednesday morning and arrived
here at 3 o'clock this afternoon.
"We checked into the hotel and then checked out again to
come to practice, and have another training session on
Friday morning.
"I am sure we will be feeling better in time for our first
match on Saturday."
The Koreans are the Asian junior champions and won this
world title in 1987.
They are in a very tough Pool A here at the Rajiv Gandhi
Port Trust Indoor Stadium, along with Serbia and Montenegro,
Cuba, Russia, Morocco and host India.
"Our first match is against Serbia and Montenegro," added
Lee, who played for his country in the 1988 Olympic Games in
Seoul. "We are a small team and they are all very tall, so
it will be a difficult match."
Pool A includes no fewer than four continental champions:
Cuba, Russia, Morocco and Korea, while Pool B has only one:
Brazil, who won the silver medal in 2003 behind Poland but
are a two-time former world champion at
this level.
"I think Cuba, Serbia and Montenegro, Russia and Brazil will
be the strongest teams, but we hope to finish in the top two
in our group to enter the semi-finals," said Lee. "We are
strong at digging and reception and the setter makes good
combinations in the attack."
Lee picked out wing spikers Moon Sung-Min and Kim Yo-Han as
his most important players, but he will need all of them to
be firing to advance from such a strong group.
But after a marathon journey from Seoul to Singapore, where
they had to wait for six hours, then to Chennai (formerly
Madras), Hyderabad and finally to Vizag...a match against
Serbia and Montenegro on Saturday morning must feel like a
holiday. |
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