Tehran, Iran, July 3, 2015 – Post-match statements from Iran vs. Russia 3-0:
Andrey Ashchev, captain of Russia: “Аlthough we had some tactics in mind, we lost. I apologize to our fans as we lost to our own mistakes.”
Aleksandr Klimkin, coach of Russia: ”The crowd was so loud that I still have an earache. I have never seen such a crowd elsewhere. On the other hand, the Iranian players were really perfect. This proved the high unity of the team. The problem of our team was mainly our injuries. We had to substitute the injured with players from different posts.”
Saeid Marouf, captain of Iran: ”This was one of our best matches. I am very thankful to the receivers of our team because they helped us so much. Russia is usually good at serving; however, we showed some high-level reception and won.”
Slobodan Kovac, coach of Iran: ”I think this match was so fantastic. We could fight the best defence in the world with 82% successful attempts. Before the match I told my players that they have a very hard responsibility. They must respect the national shirt. They must respect the 15,000 fans in the hall and probably 50,000 Iranians in front of the TV screens, who are watching them enthusiastically. I think we have proved our quality. All we are going to try is to win again tomorrow. I am proud of my players and the way they played tonight. They did a great job. We beat the World Champion, the Olympic Champion, and the last champion of the World League, because we have quality.”