Andrea Anastasi
Serbs have for many years remains in the world class, although the brothers Grbić, Andrija Gerić, Goran Vujevic, Ivan Miljkovic and also recently Bojan Janic finished their careers in the national team.
“I really like the young Serbian striker Nikola Jovović, who plays for VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN“ says Andrea Anastasi, the Polish national team coach. “His game is getting better and I talked about him with the coach Stelian Moculescu, who also praised him. Serbs have outstanding attacker, because Aleksandar Atanasijević playing at a very high level, and he is just 21 years old. Therefore, the Serbs have a chance to create a strong and perspective team on the Olympics in Rio. They have put together an intelligent training system. Gradually introduce new players. Certainly the years of Igor Kolakovic’s work with the team Serbia brings results. Given the limited capacity of Serbian federation when it comes to finance even more should be admired for the development of the Serbian voleyball and the performance of their teams at all levels. We are facing a very interesting fights” says Anastasi, who has a great respect for the Serbs because of their character and fierceness to fight.
“I’ve played against Serbs many times and have always admired them for the fight” says Anastasi. “My idol is volleyball player Nikola Grbić. My respect for the Serbs became even greater after the Olympic Games in Sydney, when they defeated in the semifinals Italy. I have a lot of respect for them and I always admire them for bravery. I also remember Serbs in the Games in Atlanta, where I was as a young aspiring coach. Then Yugoslavs appeared in the Olympics shortly after the tragic events in their country after the NATO bombing, etc. I remember a huge fight on the field and volleyball players who gave their everuthing. Also, coach Zoran Gajić was very expressive and often yelled at his players, and when I asked Nikola Grbic what he usually says at timeout, Nikola told me that he does not say anything specific just screaming that we need to win. But I have a very good relationship with Gajic, just like with the current coach of the Serbs – Igor Kolakovic. To this day, I admire the mentality of Serbian athletes” finishes Italian coach.
Serbia squad for matches against Poland: Aleksa Brdović, Uros Kovacevic, Nikola Jovović, Dragan Stanković, Aleksandar Atanasijević, Nikola Kovacevic, Dusan Petkovic, Philip Vujić, Marko Podrascanin, Nikola Rosić, Milan Rasic, Marko Ivović, Srecko Lisinać, Nemanja Petrić
To read more news from this competition click on Poland.
