COACHES READY FOR FIVB MEN’S U21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico, September 10, 2015 - Coaches of the 16 competing teams are ready for the Men’s U21 World Championship that begins on Friday.

After the preliminary inquries and their presentation at the General Technical Meeting at the Grand Hotel Tijuana, they shared expectations for the tournament.

Alejandro Grossi, coach of Argentina:

“We come with a lot of expectations, with the ilusion of playing a great world championship. We are not in a very easy Pool. We will play against very good teams and with the expectation to finish among the best teams at this world championship”.

Leonardo Carvalho, coach of Brazil:

“We know that we are in a very tough pool. We respect the quality of our rivals, but we have come here to qualify to the second round. We’ve had a solid preparation. We have a very good team that can be a contender at this championship.”

John Barret, coach of Canada:

“We are ready to begin. We’ve had been in Tijuana since August 29, and our players are now a little bit used to the heat. It has been very helpful to be here to get used to the temperature, the surroundings. I don’t think at this point we could do anymore. I think it is time to let the boys play.”

Ju Genyin, coach of China:

“We feel very good here, and this is our second time here. We played before in 2013 and with the U19 unit at that time. The last time was a great experience for us and we hope to play very good and get the support of the chinese community (in Mexicali) and fans in general.”

Pavel Noel Pimienta, assistant coach of Cuba:

“We come here with the perspective of being among the top eight teams. We are ina very tough pool with players who have even won medals in other age group championships like China, Brazil and Iran. We are bringing a team that has participated in different competitions like the U23 World Championship. We expect to give our best.”

Grzegorz Rys, coach of Egypt:

“Everybody knows that each team is coming here to win the tournament, We know that during this tournament everything can happen and we would like show and do our best during matches and play good volleyball as well as we would like to qualify to the next round, and be part of the best eight teams, but you know there are no easy teams here. Everybody is strong and hope to get to the next round.”

Jocelyn Trillon, coach of France:

“It is a pleasure to come back to Tijuana. The last time I came here it was 2007 for the Youth World Championship. I’m happy to come back here. The French tea mis ready for the tournament. We have played some friendly matches against Brazil last week and expect to begin the tournament quickly.”

Farhad Nafarzadeh, coach of Iran:

“We are very happy because we have prepared well for this competition and I hope we can play good volleyball and show it to the spectators for this tournament. We have been training for this and we hope to have a very nice time in Mexico”.

Michele Totire coach of Italy:

“We come here because as team Italy. I hope my team can play very well. We play very well. It is going to be a very hard tournament. We are in a tough pool with teams like Slovenia and France. First of all France is a good team and I hope to have a good performance day by day. We came here seven days before the tournament. We have six players who won the bronze medal in Dubai and now I hope to win another medal”.

Shingo Sakai, coach of Japan:

“We did a really good practice during the training camp at a very good environment and we are looking forward to the games. We also look for to get in to the top, the players are growing up so we expect to reach our highest level in this competition”.

Eduardo Murguia, coach of Mexico:

“We have spent two weeks here. Working hard with some scrimmage matches with China, USA and Japan. I can take good results and conclussions to make the right adjustements with the team. There are some details that the rhythm itself of the game takes on. A lot of things to improve, but we hope to have them ready for our opening match on Friday”.

Jakub Bednaruk, coach of Poland:

“Everything was good, so we are ready after many weeks of preparation. Everything is OK. We feel strong so we will see what’s going on. All volleyball players in Poland feel strong after Polish cadets (U19) won the World Championship (in Argentina), and a lot of people expect that we can also fight for the medals”. 

Mikhail Nikolaev, coach of Russia:

“We are coming here with a new team and also with some of the players who have won the Men’s U23 World Championship in Dubai a few days ago. I think we are a very strong team.We have some good players like Pavel Pankov (MVP in 2013 at U19 WCH). For now we just need some rest but are prepared for the competition”. 

Iztok Ksela, coach of Slovenia:

“We will do our best and we expect to play very well against Italy and France, that are part of our Pool. We expect to qualifiy to the next round. This is our first goal and then we will see”.

Baris Ozdemir, coach of Turkey:

“We have just arrived wednesday night to Los Angeles, and then came here to Mexico. We are glad to be here ready for competition as we expect to advance to second round and we will try to get the best results”. 

Daniel Friend coach of USA:

“I think our guys are very excited to have an opportunity to be down there in this great competition hosted by Mexico and Tijuana and Mexicali. First of all, we are excited to be here. Second of all, I think we are trying to get our best volleyball as soon as possible. We are in a tough pool with Russia, Poland and Argentina. All great teams. We are looking to go on and take care on our side of the net and play great USA Volleyball”