Russia celebrate their 3-0 semifinal win over Japan in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship
Riffa, Bahrain, August 26, 2017 – Russia captain Konstantin Abaev said that their 3-0 win against Japan was not easy, but his team knows they are capable to play in the final of the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship.
Russia captain Konstantin Abaev: We are happy to win today. Japan are a good team with good defence and a good opposite spiker – maybe the best in the whole tournament.
We had a good game today because we had good service and block. It’s not a surprise for my team to win like this. We know our capabilities and we know we can play in the final.
Russia coach Andrey Nozdrin: This was a very hard match – nerve-racking and dangerous. In the second set, we had a little problem with their quick attack, but by the end of the third set we won because of our opposite blocking.
This is almost the end of the tournament and all teams are now very tired. I cannot say that we are heading into the final 100 per cent, but all I know is that all teams are very tired. To play in this kind of tournament the teams must have very good physical preparation.
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Japan coach Hiroshi Honda: Russia’s service was very strong and we didn’t have very good reception. They were great in service and block. We could not match their game today. We still have a chance to win the bronze medal and we will go for it.
Japan captain Kento Miyaura: Our service was very weak today. We are not happy with it. We must now change our mindset for tomorrow’s game for us to have a chance of getting the bronze medal.