Dominican Cruz
rates Italy as the team to beat
in Bydgoszcz
BYDGOSZCZ,
Poland, August 15, 2006.-
Dominican coach Miguel Beato
Cruz rated Italy as the team to
beat during the Polish leg of
the FIVB World Grand Prix
starting tomorrow here on
Thursday with the matches USA
vs. Dominican Republic and
Poland vs. Italy.
The other three
coaches –Marco Bonitta, Lang
Ping and Andrzej Niemczyk- were
more cautious in their response
to the question about the
favorite team of the four
competing in Poland.
“If we go the
rankings, Italy is the top
ranked team here so they deserve
to be considered as the team to
beat,” said Cruz. “But we are
all teams well ranked so I think
every squad has the same goal of
winning the event and has the
potential to do it.”
“It is hard
choice,” said Polish Niemczyk.
“Everyone has a chance because
all the teams are very strong.”
Meanwhile, USA
Coach Lang Ping said all will
depend of the situations. “I
agree that it’s very hard to
say. The winner will be the team
who plays the best,” she said.
The Italian
Bonitta said that “this is the
first international competition
for my team and I expect to
improve day by day and be enough
strong at the end of the Grand
Prix because we are already
qualified to the finals as the
host team. At the end, the
mental situation of the team
will be better.”
Niemczyk would
like to see his team in the
finals after finishing 7 and 8
in the last two editions.
“It us going to
be an important competition and
we will do the best we can to
finish among the top five
teams,” he said.
The Dominican
Cruz, fresh from defeating Cuba
in the match for the gold medal
at the Central American and
Caribbean Games in Colombia,
said his team is well prepared
technically and physically.
“I am conscious
of the caliber of the teams
here, but my team is ready to
battle at this high competitive
level,” he said. |