Jiangmen, China, January 6, 2020 - The AVC Men's Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification tournament is set to take place in Jiangmen, China this week with the head coaches expecting a difficult competition as the eight teams in contention play for a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Australia head coach Mark Lebedew: “We spent last week training together, but actually our preparation for the Olympics began in 2017. Over the past three years, we have been working towards a unique Australian identity, we’ve also gained some success. This week we can see how far we can go because we would really like to go to Tokyo this year.”
India head coach G.E. Sridharan: “We’ve spent one month practising before coming here. We will play our best and give a good performance.”
Iran head coach Igor Kolakovic: “Since all the team are so eager to win the ticket to the Olympics, I am sure it’s going to be a big fight. As our captain said, we’ve encountered some problems during our preparation, but I hope this difficulty can make us stronger.”
Kazakhstan head coach Igor Nikolchenko: “As a young team, we are going to play three matches in the following three days. We are glad to learn from our opponents.”
Korea head coach Im Dohun: “For the past two weeks, we’ve been training intensively, we are looking forward to claiming the qualification ticket.”
Qatar head coach Camilo Andres Soto: “Our president expected us to gain more experience at international competitions. It’s very nice to be in this Asian tournament. It might be hard though - we will try to do our best in limited time.”
Chinese Taipei head coach Moro Branislav: “We are happy to compete in this tournament. China is a new team with the legend coach of Chinese volleyball and team Kazakhstan also play good volleyball traditionally. It would be a big surprise for us if we can make it, if not, it’s still ok as we will have conducted a brilliant fight.”
China head coach Shen Fulin: “Firstly, I’d like to say that team China is ready for the competition. Secondly, we will do our utmost to fight for every match.”