Cheonan, Korea, June 7, 2015 - Korea win their first match of the 2015 World League with a 3-1 (27-29, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21) victory over Czech Republic.
Ales Holubec, Czech Republic team captain: It is so regretful that we didn’t have winning energy. We took the first set luckily but our luck didn’t last that long. After so many errors, we were under pressure and couldn’t overcome it until the end.
Seo Jaeduck, Korea player: We lost yesterday and last week. It’s enough. We clenched our teeth. And we will clench harder next week against Japan. It’s a big game.
Kwak Seungsuk, Korea player: We almost won the game yesterday but we didn’t. So we settled ourselves down to mind-control. Czech Republic's second-stage attack and blocking were so much better than ours. I learned lots of things from them. It was my first time to be a starter in 2015 the World League campaign. And during the last three games I was in the warm-up zone which means I was able to see the games overall from the start to the end. I could see what was our problem and the opponents’ good techniques as well. And the lessons worked well today.
Zdenek Smejkal, coach of Czech Republic: It was quite simple if you look at the game. The strategy was the same as yesterday, but we made so many errors and Korea didn’t. That’s why we lost. We had just one week to prepare for the 2015 World League. Many players joined the national team very late, because of their pro-league. That gives us less teamwork compared to last year. Also, there wasn’t a qualification process before the Intercontinental Round, so we couldn’t train ourselves step by step.
Moon Yongkwan, coach of Korea: I always give the advice to players that you have to experience winning against European teams and figure out why you beat hem. And that experiences make you strong and stable. Today we added a victory against a European team. When we took the second set, Kwak Seungsuk said that he no longer feared Europe’s high blocking. Korean players have got lots of confidence today and this will affect the next games against Japan.