Varna, Bulgaria, September 12, 2018 – Iran started the 2018 FIVB Men’s World Championship with a straight-set win 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18) over Puerto Rico in the first match on Wednesday in Pool D.
Igor Kolakovic, coach of Iran: "It was a great beginning of the championship for us. We respected our opponent Puerto Rico a lot. We did a really good job and I am very happy about the result as well as about the support we got from Iranian fans who came here especially for the tourament. I hope it will be the same in the upcoming matches."
Milad Ebadipour, player of Iran: "It was a good game for both teams. We started very well and managed to keep playing in the same way till the end. For us it was very important to start with a victory. We knew that Puerto Rico is a good team but probably they were a little bit nervous today because it was their opening match."
Oswald Antonetti, coach of Puerto Rico: "It was not the best start for sure. I hope that in the upcoming matches we will be able to improve ourselves on the move and I hope that we will have better days throughout the tournament. Now we have to go back to the game, watch the video and analyse all the weak moments we had."
Angel Perez, captain of Puerto Rico: "We try to improve our quality of volleyball in Puerto Rico. We had a hard year but after that we took the right way and now we are among the best teams in the world. We played well today I think but we also have a lot of job to do. Our next opponent is Bulgaria – the host and one of the favourites here. They are very good in blocking and attack and it is going to be a tough game again."