Press release

Sergey Ovchinnikov, coach of Russia: I'm very satisfied with the result. I'm happy we were in the right frame of mind. Even though we had some problems in the match, we got the victory. We have had problems in the past against Japan with receiving and their fast attack, but we solved them tonight. Gamova has shown a high level of play in every match of the tournament.

Masayoshi Manabe, coach of Japan: Our serves, service reception and defense were all good. In the end it all came down to the Russian blocks being too high.

Lesya Makhno, player of Russia: It was an intense and difficult match. It was tough for me because I started and have not before tonight. I had a difficult time on reception. We won all the sets by just two or three points. We are happy to get the victory.

Saori Kimura, player of Japan: We served and attacked well. Our rally defense was good but we could not get points from it. I'm sorry that we lost.

Yukiko Ebata, player of Japan: Yesterday everybody helped me and we won. Today I wanted to play well but our opponents blocks were high so I aimed for the corners but I destroyed the flow and we lost.

Kanako Hirai, player of Japan: Our opponents were tall. It was tough to cope with their blocks. We received well early but it did not result in points. We could not deal with their double passes. I'm sorry that we lost.