Press Conference

Italy beat Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-21, 25-10, 25-18) - duration 1:11
09-Jul, start time: 13:00, end time: 14:11 - Attendance: 4'200
City: Hong Kong; Hall : Hong Kong Coliseum
Dominican Republic, head coach, Francisco Cruz Jimenez

Obviously, we did not play very well today. The second set was the worst of the two games we have had against Italy in this year. We lacked concentration today and we did not play the way we had practiced. Errors were made one after another. Italy is a great team. They were very good at defence and blocking. And overall, they made a few mistakes only.

Our team was upset that we did not perform well today. If we were able to regain our confidence, we could play a better match tomorrow.

Dominican Republic, captain, #7 Sofia Esmeralda Mercedes Heredia
We made a lot of mistakes especially in defence and serving today. We lost concentration and we made mistakes. We lost points one after another and the game was against us all the way. We did not perform as well as yesterday.

Italy, head coach, Marco Bonitta
This was a difficult match. We had to make three straight sets today, in order to be qualified to play in the final match in Japan.

The strategy against China is to be strong in everything including serve, attack, defence and blocking.

For me, China is the strongest team in the world. They have quick and fast attacks and make no mistakes. We have to stay concentrated and serve well in tomorrow's match. We have to play without mistakes.

Italy, captain, #15 Antonella Del Core
I am very happy to win this match and we did better than yesterday. I hope we can perform better tomorrow.