Poland's Captain Michal Kubiak celebrates after the win against Egypt
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 7, 2016 – To get the job done is what really is important in eyes of Michael Kubiak, the captain of Poland, who commented on the straight-set victory achieved by his team in their first outing at the men’s volleyball tournament in the Olympic Games.
Stephane Antiga, Coach of Poland: It’s a perfect first game. The first game is never easy for any tournament but for the Olympics it is always special. We played a very good game. During the first two sets, Egypt played and defended well, so we had to play seriously. In the third set, we dominated and it allowed me to make some changes wherein everybody could play. It’s really important because all my players will be useful. They might not spend too much time on the court but I want them to feel the Olympic atmosphere but also the Olympic pressure.
Michal Kubiak, Captain of Poland: We are happy to win our opening match in the Olympics. It’s always hard and stressful because we’ve been waiting for this moment for over two years. There are different kinds of emotion for every tournament and the Olympics are very special. I hope that everybody in my team is motivated and confident. We’re going to keep trying to win. For us, the most important thing is not the style that we play the most important for us is the result.
Sherif Elshemerly, Coach of Egypt: The first two sets were not that bad, especially in the second set. We had a problem with reception in the last set and we had to solve this problem. We lost our concentration and we had problems with our reception. We just have to fight for the next match because we lost our best attacker No. 15 (Ahmed Elkotb because he injured his ankle. We have Ahmed Saleh (Abdelhay), but he is also not ready because he got injured. We only started training in the last four weeks.
Ashraf Abouelhassan, Captain of Egypt: I think our team played well being this one our first match since the FIVB World League (Group 2) concluded and playing against such strong team like Poland. This is another tough competition and we need to take one game at a time, I mean go step by step.
On the ankle injury of Ahmed El Ktob
He is a very important player in our team, and at this moment we don’t know if he is going to be able to play for the rest of the tournament.