Poland, Gdansk, May 27, 2015 - The coaches of Poland and Russia attended a press conference in Gdansk ahead of the first weekend of the FIVB Volleyball World League Group 1 matches in the Polish city.
The event's Executive Director Wojciech Czayka said: "The first weekend of the FIVB Volleyball World League in Poland is starting tomorrow in Gdansk – a city very special to us, as the national team has played a lot of important matches in the city. I hope that this time too we will see a fantastic sports show against Russia, in a competition which is very important to us."
FIVB Supervisor Slobodan Milosevic said: "I am very happy because we are here all together, as a part of this event and as a part of the biggest international sport federation in the world. It is a great pleasure, as we are going to have fantastic games between two great teams. Poland has a fantastic national federation, lots of dedicated fans at the competition halls, great organization and professional TV broadcast, which reaches many other countries around the world.
"On the other side of the net we have Russia. I cannot count how many medals they have won over their long years of success. When we have two such great competitors on a court, we can expect a beautiful event. The same can be said about the coaches we have here. They enjoyed excellent careers as players and now they are excellent coaches – so we can count on two great games. I want to thank the Polish Volleyball Federation for very good organization and I want to say good luck to both teams."
Poland coach Stephane Antiga said: "I am glad that we are in Gdansk and that we are starting our journey in this city. Fans and the venue here are fantastic and we are counting on a great spectacle. We haven’t had sparring matches and it is hard to estimate our form at this point, but we will give our best and fight for the win."
Poland captain Michal Kubiak said: "First of all, I want to thank Stephane for trusting me with the role of team captain. It’s a great honour. I will try to do my best and more not to disappoint my team and my coach. Our main goal here is to win two games against Russia and later qualify to the Final Six.
"Everything that happened last September is now history. Our new goal ahead is getting to Rio. We are concentrated on new objectives and don’t think about the past. Even the world champions can lose against any given team, because the overall level is very high and balanced. All I can promise is that we will give our 100%."
Russia coach Andrey Voronkov said: "It is a great joy to come to Gdansk again. We’ve always had good matches here and we also like playing at the Ergo Arena. Not all our players are in their top shape but this is acceptable at the beginning of the season - we still have time to build up our form. Our main goal here is to try out different variations of our game."
Russia captain Andrey Ashchev said: "It is my first time as a national team captain - I’m honoured to represent our players and I promise that we will be focused and will give all we have."
Poland and Russia squads for matches in Gdansk:
Poland:1. Piotr Nowakowski
4. Jakub Jarosz
6. Bartosz Kurek
8. Andrzej Wrona
11. Fabian Drzyzga
12. Grzegorz Łomacz
13. Michał Kubiak (C)
14. Piotr Gacek (L)
17. Paweł Zatorski (L)
18. Marcin Możdżonek
20. Mateusz Mika
21. Rafał Buszek
22. Bartosz Bednorz
23. Mateusz Bieniek
Coach: Stephane Antiga
Assistant Coach: Philippe Blain
Russia:2. Denis Biriukov
6. Evgeny Sivozhelez
10. Sergey Savin
11. Andrey Ashchev (K)
12. Alexander Butko
14. Alexander Abrosimov
16. Alexey Verbov (L)
17. Maxym Mikhaylov
18. Pawel Moroz
19. Igor Kolodinsky
22. Alexander Markin
24. Artem Smoliar
Coach: Andrey Voronkov
Assistant Coach: Yury Bulychev