After he responded to the statement of Ivan Zaytsev that Zenit Kazan is “killing” the Russian Championship, Alexander Volkov also shared his opinion about the Italian team and how they won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics.”
“Italy won a medal because they had a team of foreigners. Exclude Ivan Zaytsev and Osmany Juantorena from the starting lineup and start searching for the Italian players. Plus, there was Oleg Antonov among the subs. In Russia, there is a limit of foreign players per club. We put more attention to the young players, while now we need to rejuvenate the national team. We need to give a chance to the younger players. We must not focus on results immediately. We need to think about the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020,” said Volkov.
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Sadly Volkov. Zaytsev is born and raised Italian. His strength might be within his genes as Russian but he was trained the Italian way. He is not a foreigner in Italy . It just so happenned that he is Russian blood born and raised in Italy so he is basically, Italian National.. You cannot steal Zaytsev to put in Russian National Team.
@Philippines i agree, he is so funny how about muserskiy he is ukrainian, but because he play club volleyball in russia thats why they gave him a russia citizen hahahaha. also the setter butko he is not a russian he is also a ukrainian he didnt play in rio because of knee injury
if someone lives in a country and speak that country’s language and wanna be from there because they feel they belong there why are they still considered foreign? i think it’s wrong to say that
Father of Zaytsev is one the heros of Russian volleyball…his capabilities and talents is certainly russian..juantorena is cuban player as well
And Muserski,Butko,Pavlov,Bakun and Divis are all born where?.:)..
If Russia wants to look ahead in the future and prepare its players for 2020 Olympics that’s your decision! Just like Italy wanted to see results in these Olympics and played with powerful players that played amazingly well, that’s the teams choices.
Also a person who is raised in a country , speaks the language and identifies himself/herself as a person of this nationality has every right to play for the national team! There is no such thing as ‘owes his skills to the Russian blood’ etc etc !
Italy played amazingly well and surprised many people , the ‘bigger’ , ‘stronger’ nations and teams have to accept that!
And Muserski,Butko,Pavlov,Bakun and Divis are all born where?.:)..
Soviet Union The same country
@AAA they are all born in Ukraine, they just got a russian citizenship. divis played during word league because last year he got his russian citizenship, the comment of volkov is just funny
@dee jae69
When they was born, there wasn’t a country of Ukraine at that moment, right? Except Divis that I forgot his birth place.
The question is ‘Where were they born?’ I answered that question.
Really??? FIrst of all, i didn’t even know who he was before the olympics.
Zaytzev is born and raised in Italy, he is italian just like Antonov. That’s not because you didn’t born in some country that you are less italian than the others,
When it comes to cubans playing for other coutries it’s really polemic, but it’s important to see that some of them have a strong connection with the conuntry they’re living. Juantorena and Leal have a strong relation with Italy and Brazil, they are not foreigners anymore, different from Leon, who’s going to play for Poland for no reasons. Juantorena has been living in Italy for a long time, his family is there, his life is there, he speks italian, he feels italian, then he is italian.
This kind of statement is totaly xenophobic, especially when it comes from a country that has no respect for foreigners in volleyball and, in a strange way, his best players are not even russian-born (Muserkiy, Goncharova, Butko, Pavlov).
Less hate Volkov, less hate.
@mat bra You’re right. But I want to tell You, that leon wants to play for Poland, because Polish menager Andrzej Grzyb has helped him, when he left Cuba. Wilfredo has started living in Poland and he has met his wife (she is Polish, of course). Leon feels Polish like Juantorena Italian : ).
this guy is funny
Perhaps Italy won a medal because they did not have to invent injuries to hide doping… Jokes apart, Volkov statement is the words of a looser