Manama, Bahrain, July 18, 2019 – Hosts Bahrain succeeded in their FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship campaign opener with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-20) win over Puerto Rico in Pool A on Thursday.
Bahrain coach Yusuf Khalifa: “This is a good start. The boys have pressure being the home team. We play Morocco tomorrow and we need to win this game to stay in contention for the next round. This gives us a little added pressure but in the World Championship every win is important. Step by step, hopefully we can go to the second round.”
Puerto Rico coach Francisco Negron: “We didn’t play at the level we are capable of playing. We had a really bad match with a lot of mistakes. I really hope that we can lessen our mistakes and play better matches from now on. It is difficult to play in a tournament like this because all the teams are strong and we do not have plenty of international experience. We just have to keep on fighting.”
Puerto Rico captain Pedro Molina: “It was a very tough match, but I really can say that we’re not going to focus on the result today because it is the first game. We barely have been practising, so we’re going to forget about today’s loss and focus on the rest of the tournament.
“Most of the players on our team are rookies, so we have to talk to them, keep playing and trust in each other. This is a difficult tournament and we’re going to be focused on our remaining games. Whether we win or lose, we are going to give our all in each match.”
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship Bahrain 2019
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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