The coaches of (left to right) Thailand, Turkey, Algeria and Japan are ready to start the World Grand Prix Pool C in Ankara on Friday
Barbolini, who lead the Italian women’s team to World Cup and World Grand Champions Cup success, swapped Italy for Turkey after the 2012 Olympics and now leads the Turkey women’s team into the 2013 World Grand Prix, starting with Pool C action on home soil in Ankara against Algeria at 11:00 (GMT) on Friday.
“I’m really happy to be here and really proud of being the head coach of this team,” Barbolini told the official press conference. “The World Grand Prix is really important. We need to improve our level little by little every day. We have another goal in September, the European Championship. But match by match, step by step we’ll go through our goal I hope. All of the matches in this World Grand Prix are very important. I hope we’ll reach the Finals in Japan.”
Meanwhile, the other three coaches also were present, including Algeria’s coach Aimad Eddine Saidani, who is leading his team into the World Grand Prix for the first time. “This is the first time we are participating to the World Grand Prix,” he said. “We are very and proud to be here. We have a young team and taking place in the World Grand Prix will be good for them to evaluate themselves.”
Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe: “We are automatically qualified for the Finals in Sapporo in Japan as hosts but we’ll do our best day by day and match by match to be at the top of our game by the time of the Finals.”
Thailand coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai “This is our first time to join the World Grand Prix in Turkey. We know the Grand Prix is very important for our team because we learn from the matches we played in the previous Grand Prixes. We hope we do our best this year. We’ll fight every game.”
For more information about the upcoming competition, read World Grand Prix 2013.
