Kuziutkin: It's good to measure ourselves with world's best
Volleyball 10/09/2017
Russia coach Vladimir Kuziutkin said that their FIVB Volleyball Women's World Grand Champions Cup stint allowed them to measure themselves against the world's best teams
Nagoya, Japan, September 10, 2017 – After the 3-0 win over Korea, Russia coach Vladimir Kuziutkin had a positive outlook on their stint in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Grand Champions Cup, as his young team were able to measure themselves with the world's best teams.
Russia coach Vladimir Kuziutkin: In Japan, we've been able to measure ourselves against strong teams from around the world and it has been interesting to be around these teams and play against them. We are at the start of the journey with some new players in the team and it's just the beginning to getting better.
Russia captain Ekaterina Kosianenko: Congratulations to my team today. In today's game, we had good reception and attack.
Russia player Nataliya Goncharova: We won 3-0 and it wasn't a hard match but overall in this competition it hasn't been very good for our team. We need to play better and must practice with all the players as a team. We need more time to do that. I hope we will be better in the next competition. But we like playing in Japan because there's always a comfortable atmosphere and the Japanese fans are so nice to us, so we're happy every time we come to Japan. Many teams here play good volleyball – Brazil, China, USA – and they are very hard to play against. We must try to beat them in the next competition. Hopefully, in the World Championship.
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FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup - Women
FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup - Men
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Korea coach Hong Sungjin: When we departed Korea for this competition, I was asked if we could win even one game. This shows how tough it was for us. We played very strong countries – Japan, USA, Russia and China – and it took a lot of work to select the players and prepare for this tournament. We have three years to Tokyo 2020 and we have a plan, so we will proceed one step at a time. I think things will change from next year. We have a lot to analyse from this competition and we will learn from that.
Before this competition, the players only had two days of rest so they are tired and their bodies are fatigued. Kim Hee-jin had an elbow problem and Kim Yeon Koung is worn out as she usually has to strike the ball twice as often as the other players, so those two weren't in our team. I think Tokyo 2020 will be the last Olympics for Kim Yeon Koung. We must think about the current players and develop our younger players with a long-term plan otherwise we won't even be able to qualify for Tokyo.
Korea captain Kim Su Ji: The usual members of our team were unable to play in this competition so we mainly used younger players. They have a lot to learn but they were able to gain experience in this competition and they will be able to use that experience in the next competition.