Kobe, Japan, September 29, 2018 - Russia defeated Trinidad and Tobago in the Group C opener at Kobe Green Arena on Saturday.
Trinidad and Tobago Captain Renele Forde: This is the first time for us, as a Caribbean country, to play in the Women's World Championship, so this is a historical moment. We were a little bit nervous and had some problems at the beginning because it was our first appearance and we could not adjust our blocking system.
Head Coach Francisco Cruz Jimenez: It is an honour to play against such a strong team as Russia. It was a very good experience for us. This was an historical start for this team in the Women's World Championship. Volleyball is not so popular in Trinidad and Tobago and we need to make progress in technical things and our game plan must improve.
Russia Captain Evgeniya Startseva: It was our first match and I can't say everything went well, but we won 3-0 so we are proud of this. This is just the first step and we have to improve more and more.
Head Coach Vadim Pankov: This is the biggest tournament in the world and we have the responsibility to keep our form in this competition. It was the first day and we have different players from the last World Championship so I was not sure if we could keep the same quality. We made some mistakes in serve and receive, but Trinidad and Tobago was very strong with good jumping spikes.