Korea was impressive against Japan in front of a sell-out crowd
Tokyo, Japan, May 17, 2016 - Korean coach Lee Chungjul was happy with his team’s win against Japan, but emphasised the need to keep developing new players, while Japanese coach Masatoshi Manabe said he had never seen his team struggle with serve receive like they did against Korea.
Korea coach Lee Chungjul - “This was a very important match. It always is when it is South Korea against Japan. We are happy we have won 2 of 3 matches.”
“We have to develop new players and are trying to do that. We can't do it with just Yeon-Koung.”
“We prepared special attacking tactics for the match. We had to think of ways to get around the Japan defense and one was the faking our players used.”
Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe - “The biggest difference tonight was that Korea blocked our reception. That was the biggest factor.”
“Their serves were going in between our players today like we have not seen before. We made mistakes and lost many points.”
“We did not have enough quick attacks in the middle of the match.”
Korea captain Kim Yeon-Koung - “This match got a lot of attentions. Lots of press. I got advice from many people and was happy to respond.”
Japan player Miyu Nagaoka - “We could not clinch it in the first set and that was big. Today we lost and it reminded me how the OQT can go.”