Defending champions Italy will come into the FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2011 shorthanded after their key attacking weapon Serena Ortolani was ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury.
Ortolani will be replaced by 24-year-old libero Monica De Gennaro.
Italy coach Massimo Barbolini said he hoped to see Ortolani return to action in time for the Italian championships begin. He acknowledged that it was a “big problem” but remained optimistic ahead of the defending champion's opening match against hosts Japan on Friday.
“Every match in the World Cup is an important one, not only very important, but also very hard,” he explained. “Japan is one of the strongest teams and has very well organized players. This is the first of many ‘finals’ that we must play in this tournament.”
His counterpart, coach Masayosi Manabe, will lead Japan into their opening match on the back of a less-than-stellar record against the European rivals, having dropped 15 of the last 24 clashes. However, Japan did win their last meeting at the World Grand Prix Finals in Macau, China in August.
Friday will also see China take on Algeria and the Dominican Republic face Argentina.
The last time China played in the tournament was in 2003 where they came out on top. They didn't take part in the 2007 edition as they already had an automatic spot for the Olympic Games as hosts. Coach Yu Juemin explained that his team is very happy to be in Japan, but added that they are serious about the task ahead:
“We are well prepared,” he added, “and we hope we can compete on a very high level.”
The 2011 edition of the World Cup is Algeria's inaugural campaign, and their match against China on Friday marks the first time the two teams have met in a FIVB tournament. Coach Ikhedji Mouloud explained:
“One of our objectives is to get experience for the players on our team," he said. "We’re happy to participate. We’d like you to get used to seeing our faces. We’re certainly going to do our best.”
Like the rest of the teams in Hiroshima, the Dominican Republic is happy to be competing, although the team has been forced to make a late change, with Brenda Castillo left out of the starting line up due to a disciplinary issue. Nonetheless coach Marcos Kweik looked optimistic and noted “We plan to do our best to reach our target in the competition.”
His team will face the Argentinians who are also hungry for a strong showing in Hiroshima. Coach Bastit Horacio explained that his young team had a good result at the Latin American pre-Olympic competition, and he hopes in the future they have a chance to participate in the Olympic Games
