Indonesian Volleyball Coach: 'Vietnam's Elimination Is Not Our Business'

Coach of the Indonesian U21 women's volleyball team Marcos Sugiyama said he was completely surprised when his team got a ticket to the round of 16 of the world tournament.

Coach Marcos Sugiyama was surprised by the elimination of U21 Vietnam - Photo: VOLLEYBALL WORLD

Late on August 12, Indonesian volleyball unexpectedly received good news. With the U21 Vietnam team's results at the U21 Women's Volleyball World Cup being canceled, Indonesia was promoted to the top 4 of Group A.

Thanks to that, they got a ticket to the round of 16 despite having only finished 5th overall. Sharing with the press, the coach of the Indonesian U21 women's volleyball team Marcos Sugiyama expressed his surprise.

"I have never heard of anything like that. But it is not our business. If Vietnam are eliminated, we need to prepare for the round of 16 match," he said.

How to handle this issue is up to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Our job is to help athletes recover and check for injuries."

Previously, there were many rumors that the host Indonesia accused the Vietnamese athletes of not being qualified. Therefore, FIVB stepped in to investigate and came to a conclusion on the evening of August 12.

Then there was another information saying that Indonesia was innocent, and that Serbia was the team that made the complaint to FIVB. Of course, these are all rumors and have no basis to prove.

At 7pm on August 13, U21 Indonesia will play the round of 16 match against a very strong opponent, U21 Italy. The European representative is a world volleyball powerhouse, and is also a candidate for the U21 World Cup championship this year. At this playground, they have reached the final 3 times in a row.

In the group stage, U21 Indonesia did not play very impressively despite having the home advantage. They lost 4 matches and only won once against the weakest opponent in the group, U21 Canada. However, after the FIVB's decision on the U21 Vietnam team, Indonesia surprisingly had their result changed to 2 wins, 3 losses, thereby getting a ticket to the next round.

With such inconsistent form, it will not be easy for the home team to cause a surprise against an Italian U21 team that is full of spirit.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hlv-bong-chuyen-indonesia-viet-nam-bi-loai-khong-phai-viec-cua-chung-toi-20250813152121854.htm