MATCH INFO

Tokyo, Japan, November 18, 2011 - Press Conference, China v Germany: China clinched a ticket to the London Olympics with a top three finish in the World Cup, thanks to their win over Germany.

China coach Yu Juemin: Thank you to all the press for staying with us for 15 days; it really helped us a lot. This match was really important for us because we could clinch third place and qualify for the London Olympics. We overcame the pressure, and we were prepared well, so there wasn’t much for me to say during the match. This was our best game in this World Cup. I’m happy to have qualified for London. Through this tournament we found many problems and gained a lot of experience, and found many areas we can improve moving forward to London.

China captain Wei Qiuyue: For us from the beginning of this year until today, so many things have happened to us and it has been a difficult time. So now at the end of the World Cup we think we did our best, and through this experience, we’ve grown a lot. In both matches and games all members communicated well and we became one group with a feeling of wholeness, and that built our confidence. We will do our best for the London Olympics.

On the best moment in the World Cup: Of course from each player point of view, the moment we win the match is the happiest moment of course. But for myself the most unforgettable moment was before the World Cup when we had many losses. Those were the most unforgettable moments for me. But today’s result comes from a strong team effort.

China player Hui Ruoqi: Before we came here the team condition was not where it should be; our team is young. None of us really thought we could reach the top three to qualify for the Olympics. To participate in this tournament has had great meaning for us and has helped our psychological development. I’d like to extend our gratitude to all the people who have supported us. As well, I want to extend a thank you to the German team for the great match today.

On the best moment in the World Cup: I feel the same way [as Wei Qiuyue]. The most unforgettable moments were our losses last year, as we had no wins at that time. For me this is my first World Cup, so before every game I tried to prepare in a positive way. The most impressive game in our tournament? Yes it was this one, especially with Germany’s offence and serving, as both were very powerful. We felt great pressure on serve/receive in the face of their attacking. Actually last night I had to contemplate how to go forward today, and I spent most of the night thinking about it. It wasn’t easy to win this game today.

Germany coach Giovanni Guidetti: I congratulate China I think they deserve this qualification. They are playing great volleyball and have improved a lot since the World Grand Prix. They played 3-2 against Italy, Brazil, and USA; they beat Japan - so for sure China showed that they deserved it. I think my players were too tired and stressed after yesterday's loss in that way. We came here without too many expectations, we came to the end with a possibility to qualify and that means we did a great job. My players are not so happy right now, and we need to recover from this. We still have a few possibilities to go to London and I am confident that we can make it.

On improvements over the past year: I think this is a kind of process that we started to work towards together five years ago. The players improved a lot, with the national team and with pro clubs. We became better and better, and over two years we took every gold. The individual performance of players was better, with good teamwork. Over the summer we spent many hours in the gym and that made the team much better. In this tournament and in the European Championships we had Angelina Grün join the team and it was a very good match. Our young players got great experience without her, and then when she came we were ready to play high level volleyball. Now Germany is playing at top of the world and I hope we continue to improve every year.

Germany captain Margareta Kozuch: Congratulations to China. I think they had a good match today. The match for us was important, the same as China. We started well, but we were unlucky - as we were in front and couldn’t keep ahead. In the second and in the third they played well with no mistakes. For our team it was the first time to play with such pressure. Until today we had the possibility to qualify for the Olympics, and I’m really proud of what we did. Now we look forward to qualifying in the next tournament, and we’ll be keeping our heads up moving forward.