Press release

Doha, Qatar, October 11, 2011 – Azerbaijan’s Rabita Baku, with a 12-centimeter height advantage, defeated Thailand's Chang Bangkok 25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 25-17 using a a 16-0 block advantage on Tuesday during Pool B of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship being held in Doha, Qatar.

Rabita Baku Captain Natalya Mammadova: We are very happy with this win. It's a very good start for our team because several players just arrived from their national teams. Even though we weren't able to prepare very well for this competition, I still believe we played a good game. We lost concentration in the second set, but recovered very quickly.

Rabita Baku Coach Zoran Gajic: Of course I'm very happy with this victory. It was a good test because for several players this was their first match. They didn't play for five months. Unfortunately we weren't able to prepare very well for this competition and two of our American players couldn't join us. To be able to win this competition I think we have to play more defensive and try to make even less mistakes.

Chang Bangkok Captain Wilavan Apinyapong: Today we tried to do the best we can. We played against a very strong team, of which several players are a lot taller than we are. That made it very difficult for us to attack because they were able to block us quiet easily.

Chang Bangkok Coach K. Radchatagriengkai: First of all I would like to thank the FIVB for organising this competition and taking care of my team during our stay. Further I would like to thank the local organiser and the sponsors. We are very happy to be here. I would also like to thank the media and the Thai fans for supporting our team.  Even though we didn't win, I'm very happy with my players performance. I hope they have learned a lot from this experience and that they will improve their play so we can come back next year. At last I would like to congratulate Rabita Baku and wish them good luck in the remaining part of the competition.

For additional information on the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, click here. For more informaton on the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, click here. For Daily Bulletins for the tournament, click here.