Canada coach Marcello Abbondanza took some positives out of Tuesday's loss to China
Sapporo, Japan, October 2, 2018 – Captain Zhu Ting led China to a 3-0 victory in a tough match against a resilient Canada team in the FIVB Women’s World Championship on Tuesday. Canada coach Marcello Abbondanza was disappointed but not downhearted.
Canada coach Marcello Abbondanza: Today is another loss, so I’m not celebrating but probably today we not only lost the game but also a wall we have inside our minds and we started to play better volleyball and became competitive against one of the best teams in the world. We fought, especially in the first two sets. We had maybe a chance to take a set, but when you’re playing against players with such experience it’s complicated. I’m happy with what I saw and I hope this is a good start for our remaining two matches, which are very important for us.
Canada captain Kyla Richey: I’m really happy with today’s performance overall. It was a completely different team on court with feeling and confidence. We got to show what we’ve been working on for the last five or six months. It was nice to see our team rise to the challenge. We lost a bit at the end but overall I’m happy how we fought with one of the top teams in the world.
China captain Zhu Ting: It was not an easy game, but I’m satisfied with the result.
China No. 10 Liu Xiaotong: Canada were very powerful today, especially in defence, so it was not an easy game for us. I was happy to be back in the starting lineup today and I was able to find my rhythm. During the game, I felt I could get better but I have things to think about before the next games.
China coach Lang Ping: In this World Championship every team is really strong, so it’s not a matter of strengths or weaknesses but more about the different levels of experience they have. Today, it was a hard game for us and we learned that we need to improve ourselves, especially how we react to the ball. It’s a long championship so I want to try to use a lot of players in different situations.