Coaches of Dominican Republic, Russia, Argentina, Japan, Cuba and Kenya after the press conference of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan, August 21, 2015 – Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Japan, Kenya and Russia have convened at a press conference on Friday in the Japanese capital for the first round of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup.
The coaches revealed their team’s best weapon and their goals for the tournament. Dominican Republic, Russia and Japan expressed their determination to claim the two tickets at stake in the World Cup for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“Like other teams, we are searching for the ticket to Rio 2016,” Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek said. “We are looking for the right balance of height and experience to help us do our best here.”
“We don’t have a specific weapon,” Russia coach Yury Marichev modestly said. “We have a strong determination to win the ticket to the Olympics next year. We have a young team and some of these players are not so experienced.”
Hosts Japan can count on their teamwork but coach Masayoshi Manabe assured that they should not let their guard down against their opponents.
“We are not very tall, our biggest weapon is how we can work together as a team,” coach Manabe said. “Our goal is to win the ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympics. All the teams here are strong, so we will do our best.”
The three other teams – Argentina, Cuba and Kenya – will try to use the opportunity to perform well in the World Cup and are taking little steps to achieve bigger goals in the future.
Argentina coach Guillermo Orduna is in no rush to achieve the Olympic ticket but believes in his players’ grit to achieve an attainable goal of becoming a strong force in the South America region.
“Our biggest weapon is our determination,” Orduna said. “We are still a growing team. We don’t want to be a team with just one or two good players. One of our goals is to go to the South American Championship. This opportunity to participate in this competition is good for us.”
“This is a strong competition,” Cuba coach Roberto Garcia said. “All the teams are trying to win the ticket to the Olympics. We have a young team with young players. We will try to work together towards a brilliant finish.”
“We are not trying to make it to the Olympics, but rather perform better and play well as the African champions,” Kenya coach David Lungaho said. “We are trying to improve in this event. We just won the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Group 3 final and we hope that can inspire us when we play against the top teams. Our best weapon in this tournament is our fighting spirit.”
Some of the coaches also revealed the teams that would be tough to beat in the first round.
“Russia is a strong team with a great history,” Kwiek said. “We expect a great match against them. Their tough blocks are tough to contend with.”
“We expect a tough match with the Dominican Republic,” coach Marichev returned the favour by naming the NORCECA squad as their toughest rivals in Tokyo.
Site A matches in Tokyo will open with Dominican Republic facing Russia, followed by the match between Cuba and Kenya, then the last match between Argentina and Japan.
The Argentine coach thinks that the host team is difficult to overcome because of their quickness.
“Japan's players have good technical and fundamental skills. We have to look out for their speed,” Orduna said.