Verona, Italy, September 25, 2014 – A satisfied Russia said they aim for the first place at the FIVB Women's World Championship, after securing a spot in the second phase by beating Kazakhstan 3-0 at PalaOlimpia on Thursday.
Russian player Ekaterina Gamova: “We gained a straight-set win, for this reason I can only be satisfied. We are still at the beginning of the championship, and I think that this will be a hard competition for all the teams. But we will strongly try to reach the first place.”
Russian coach Yurj Marichev: “Today I'm proud of my girls, they played very well. Usually we prepare all the matches with the same diligence, but now we're particularly focusing on Sunday's match against USA.”
Kazakhstan captain, Korinna Ishimtseva: “In spite of the defeat, there were some good moments for us during the match, and we can be proud about this. Russia is one the strongest teams, and we can learn a lot from them.”
Kazakhstan coach Oleksandr Gutor: "Today was a better match than our other two, but we have a problem with our reception. Russia has a good block and it's hard to play against such a high team.”
"No match is easy, but every game in here will be very difficult. The next two games are very important because it will decide if we go through or not.”
"I expect us to qualify, but this is volleyball, a very difficult sport. This is dependent on how we play.”
On Russia's chances of winning the World Championship again: "It depends how they prepare for the next games. It will be interesting to see how they play against more difficult teams. I hope they will win and I will wish them luck for their next match."