Russia look forward to reach positive results and bring joy to their home fans in Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad, Russia, July 12, 2017 – The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix is set take make its way to Kaliningrad, where Russia will host Belgium, Dominican Republic and the Netherlands in Pool F from July 14 to 16.
Russia coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin, who is on his second spell as coach of the women’s team, took over from Yury Marichev last February 2017. On his first stint, he was at the helm of Russia from 2009 to 2011 and guided them to a silver medal finish in the 2009 World Grand Prix and gold at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.
After the first weekend of the 2017 World Grand Prix, the Netherlands are ahead with seven points, while the Dominican Republic, Russia earned six and three points, respectively. Belgium have yet to earn a victory in the competition.
“We are building up a new team at the beginning of the Olympic cycle,” Kuzyutkin said. “That is why our main goal at the World Grand Prix is to give our young players as much practice as possible. At the same time we want to reach positive results in front of our home fans. The Kaliningrad audience love volleyball and always support the home team, so we will do our best to combine these two goals for this weekend in Kaliningrad.”
“We should not step back after three defeats in Kunshan,” added Irina Zaryazhko. “It might take a lot of time to make the team well-experienced, but we will try to change the situation and bring joy to our fans this weekend. We have a wonderful sports centre in Kaliningrad, which is always full of spectators. So we feel very comfortable here.”
The first match will feature European rivals the Netherlands and Belgium at 16:40 local time, followed by the encounter between hosts Russia and the Dominican Republic at 19:10.