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