Zoran Terzic
Russia dispatched Cuba in straight sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-20) to remain unbeaten while in the nightcap it was Japan that scored a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-21) victory over Thailand. Both defeated sides fell to 1-2 mark.
“Cuba didn’t receive well, so that was a key to our victory,” Russia’s coach Sergey Ovchinnikov pointed out. “The result was good. We played well but did have a problem in the third set but we were able to solve it.”
“I was surprised by how well we blocked tonight,” Japan’s coach Masayoshi Manabe stated. “Our serves went well, so it was good for us.”
In other matches on Tuesday, European champions Serbia won their second match with a hard-fought four-set (16-25, 25-21, 25-13, 25-20) victory over Korea while Peru defeated Chinese Taipei in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-20) in a contest between teams battling for their first victory.
“It was a good game today,” Serbia’s coach Zoran Terzic said. “We played bad at the start but got it together from the second set. We hope we can play that way the rest of the tournament.”
“We played well enough today but lacked consistency,” Peru’s coach Luca Cristofani commented. “We need to find a rhythm and be more consistent.”
