Indonesia confident of winning opening match in U-185 VB C'ship

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian men's volleyball team is confident of winning its opening match against Chinese Taipei at the U-185 World Volleyball Championship, at Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Senayan on Thursday.

The championship -- which features five volleyball teams from Russia, Japan, Myanmar, Chinese Taipei and Indonesia -- is the first men's volleyball competition in the world that limits the height of participating athletes.

National team manager Zulfarshah said his team had defeated Taipei 3-2 in the Asia Junior Volleyball Championships in Qatar in September.

"We are pretty confident of winning again this year, based on our performance review. Most of the Taipei players played in Qatar too," he said on Tuesday.

"If we could win in Qatar, we should be able to do it again here, especially with the support of the home crowd," he added.

However, Zulfarshah said his team only had three weeks of preparation after the National Games in Palembang last month.

Despite the individual skills of the players, the team would need to refine its game: "We still have to improve our strategy, the players' mobility and rally techniques," he added.

Chinese Taipei head coach Chang Mu San said his team would try to steal a game from Indonesia in the competition.

Separately, assistant coach of the Russian team Ilya Volodarskiy, said his team had a different purpose for participating in the Championships.

"We haven't just come here to win, but to study other countries' teams, since we've never taken part in a championship where players' heights are limited," he said.

Mentioning Wednesday's match against Myanmar, Volodarskiy said he had no clues as to the strengths/weaknesses of the opponent team.

"We haven't seen them play before, and we don't know their strategy. So, I say our chance is fifty-fifty," he said.

Volodarskiy said the strength of the Russian volleyball team had been the height of its players. However, as all players on court would be of a similar height, due to the limitation, the team would have to work harder.