Tijuana, Mexico, September 16, 2015 - In less than 15 hours the Chinese team had enough time to correct some mistakes and motivate again as they defeated Italy in three sets on wednesday.
China recovered from the defeat against Russia and showed that they are still good contenders at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship. Captain Yaochen Yu said that
“We tried to change our mentality and open our mind. We have faced rally tough teams like Russia and also Italy. But the defeat we had previously we tried to get force from within and we gave it all,” Yu said.
Coach Genyin Ju stated about this match that they played a little more relaxed. “We relaxed and we could have a better performance and took care of every play, every spike and every block to win. We felt some kind of pressure because Italy is a tough team,” he added.
“We celebrated like in a bowling game after we got the win, it is very common the way we have to enjoy the moment”, said the coach and the captain. “I am glad for the performance of the boys and Yaochen (Yu) acted like a leader as the captain he is,” coach Ju mentioned.
“China played very well. We played very bad, but tomorrow against Russia we will give it all. Our main goal is to be among the best four in the world, so we expect to do our best against them,” said Tiziano Mazzone, captain of Italy.
Italian coach Michele Totire remarked that China played a match with a lot of order and that was a key factor for their rivals.
“First of all, I want to congratulate China, because they played a very good match on block and defense and my guys tried to win the match but today it was very hard because China is a very organized team,” he said.
“I am sorry because tomorrow we will not play a match, we will have a fight like a war (as they match Russia),” he added. “Today’s match was like a ticket for our team and now we have to work to prepare for the next one.”