Coaches comment about teams' preparation and expectation ahead World Championship Asian Qualifiers

The meeting, which was held to reconfirm all participating teams about the technical terms and refereeing matters of the tournament, was presided by Lt Col Dr Sinthop Kaewpijit, President of Nakhon Pathom Sports Authority, with a group of Control Committee members in attendance including Technical Supervisor Mr Chang Chin Jong, FIVB Representative Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, himself AVC Secretary-General, and Dr Ruengsak Siriphol, Member of FIVB Medical Commission and General Manager of AVC Headquarters.

After the meeting, all attendants were invited to join team players for the welcome dinner hosted by local organisers and Nakhon Pathom province. However, while waiting for their dinner, head coaches granted permission for some short interviews.

DPR Korea head coachU Chung Song: “My players have gathered to train as a team for 30-40 days. We will do our best in this tournament.”

Korea coach Hong Sungjin: “After the World Grand Champions Cup in Japan, we had a hard time to prepare for this tournament. I admit that these are not best Korean players, but 70% of them are with us. We trained hard and hope to make a good match against DPR Korea in our first match on Wednesday.”

Vietnam head coach Japanese Irisawa Hidehiro: “We have much younger players in the team this time, not like the same squad competing in the SEA Games in Malaysia and the Asian Championship in the Philippines. However, I hope that the young players will combine well with the experienced ones to make the team much stronger. Our goal is to qualify for the World Championship Finals.”

Iran head coach Mirmostafa Shojael: “I have just taken over the position as the head coach for the Iran women’s national team for three months. After taking part in the Asian Senior Women’s Championship in the Philippines, we decided to renew the composition of the young players and youth team from age groups with 60% of them to play here. We are working with young generation.

“Talking about our expectation in this tournament, I would like to mention the target of the IRIVF (Islamic Republic of Iran Volleyball Federation). This is the tournament that Iran would focus on the young players. So, the standard of Thailand and Korea is much higher than us, but we just want to gain much more experience and prove ourselves in Asia. However, our long-term target of the IRIVF is to finish among top four in Asia as the Iranian men’s team are current world No.7 and show their absolute power in Asia. We just would like to get improvement the same way as the Iranian men’s team, but in this tournament, we’re just thinking about to gain more experience.”

Thailand head coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul: “We tried to focus on adjustment to the court conditions and also improve communications between setter and spikers. Generally, I think my players are in good shape, physically and mentally. After completion of Division A Thailand Championship, my players are in the recuperation process. What they need is more strength and power.”

The FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Japan 2018 Asian Qualifiers Pool B encounters will be held at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium between September 20 and 24. Only the top two teams from this tournament will join another top two teams from Pool A in Kazakhstan to represent Asia in the next year’s World Championship Finals in Japan from September 29 to October 20, 2018.

MATCH SCHEDULE

September 20

3.15pm: South Korea v DPR Korea

6.15pm: Thailand v Iran

 

September 21

3.15pm: Iran v DPR Korea

6.15pm: Thailand v Vietnam

 

September 22

3.25pm: Vietnam v DPR Korea

6.15pm: South Korea v Iran

 

September 23

3.15pm: Vietnam v South Korea

6pm: Thailand v DPR Korea

 

September 24

3.15pm: Vietnam v Iran

6.15pm: Thailand v South Korea