2011 Grand Prix Week 3

admin Aug 18, 2011, 10:34 pm 1 Comment

If you missed the first round, click THIS.

If you missed the second round, click THIS.

2011 World Grand Prix Week 3: August 19th – 21st, 2011.

Final Round Teams: China (host), Brazil, Russia, USA, Serbia, Italy, Japan and Thailand. Click THIS to know more about the Finals.

Results+ Stats: Please click to enlarge.

Power Quotes:

August 19th:

Italy captain Eleonora Lo Bianco: “We need to practice more and try out different forms by substituting different players. We need to find our rhythm and strengthen our abilities.”

Korea No. 10 Kim Keon-Young: “I thought Russia would be a strong opponent and it would be an important match. We didn’t give up to the end. We still have some weak points but we were in more harmony than usual today. We scored as a team – not just me – and that’s why we won.”

USA coach Hugh McCutcheon: “We had very strong defence and did very well on the service line. I am very satisfied with my players’ performance today. They played better than before and achieved our goal of keep improving. Germany is a very strong team and we are happy to win! We have to get ready now for tomorrow’s match against Italy.”

Cuba coach Juan Gala Rodriguez: “Congratulations on Brazil’s win. They played exceptionally well against us. Brazil are one of the world’s best teams with talented, skilful players. We admit the loss to Brazil. As for the next match against Thailand, I think the host team play well with good defence. It must be a close match on Saturday, but we will try our best.”

Serbia No. 10 Maja Ognjenovic: We did a good job tonight. It was much easier than expected and it is a very important victory for us because with this win we are probably in the final eight. The main difference tonight was that we started more powerfully than in Nagoya and (last week) Japan played much better than tonight.

Thailand captain Wilavan Apinyapong: I’m very glad that we won the match. We made many mistakes in the first set, but improved them to win the set finally. We maintained that form to win the following two sets. Despite the win, we still have more to learn.

Poland coach Swiderek Alojzy: “This is an important result for us (3-0). I hope we can keep on winning. Still, I am not quite satisfied with all elements in the game, especially in blocking and receiving. But in overall,I think our girls did well.”

China captain Wei Qiuyue: “Although we won the game, there is still room for improvement. We did well at the net today. When our opponent gives us a hard time, we should respond more quickly and in details.”