Serbia captain Dragan Stankovic (left), coach Nikola Grbic (centre) and player Marko Podrascanin attended the press conference in Belgrade, before they left for their matches against Brazil in Pool A of the FIVB Volleyball World League
Belgrade, Serbia, May 27, 2015 – The Serbian men’s national team will be travelling to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Wednesday morning for their matches against Brazil in Pool A of the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League, which is scheduled on May 29 and 30.
Coach Nikola Grbic, captain Dragan Stankovic and Marko Podrascanin were all present at a press conference at the Hotel M in the Serbian capital.
Grbic presented the list of 14 players who will travel to Brazil, namely, setters Nikola Jovovic, Aleksa Brdjovic; opposites Alkesandar Atanasijevic, Sasa Starovic; liberos Nikola Rosic, Neven Majstrorovic, middle blockers Stankovic, Podrascanin, Srecko Lisnac, Aleksandar Okolic; outside spikers Uros Kovacevic, Marko Ivovic, Konstantin Cupkovic, and Milan Katic.
Serbia will participate for the 18th time in the World League. They have won four silver medals in 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2009, and three bronze medals in 2002, 2004 and 2010. Their first medal – the bronze in 2002 – was won in Belo Horizonte. Serbia, at that time Yugoslavia, defeated Italy 3-1 (28-26, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21) in the bronze medal match.
With little time to prepare for the World League, coach Grbic and captain Stankovic will still do their best in this trip to the Brazilian volleyball capital.
“The first three weeks (of preparation for the World League) we dedicated to fitness and some tactical plans,” Grbic said. “Of course, we are not at the top of our game right now, but we will do our best under these circumstances. Brazil will be relaxed as they will host the Finals.”
“We needed more time to prepare, but what can we do,” Stankovic added. “We will make adjustments along the way. We will try to make the most of this trip to Brazil.”