Thessaloniki, Greece, June 26, 2016 - Qatar ended their FIVB World League campaign on a high note, as they beat Puerto Rico in straight sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) at Alexandrio Melathro.
Qatar head coach, Roberto Piazza: I am satisfied with the final outcome. We had only beat Tunisia in the first tournament, but we were very competitive against Venezuela and Slovenia, two of the teams which I believe that will play in the Final Four. We did a good job in this first period of the season and our next goal is to show a good level in the Asian Cup.
Qatar player, Ribeiro Renan: I’m satisfied with our results in the World League, although we could have done better. Our new coach has some new ideas and he is teaching us much, but it’s difficult to execute it all well in such a short time. We have a young team and we can improve a lot. Our main goal is to qualify to the 2020 Olympic Games in four years, but we have many short-terms goals to achieve before that.
Puerto Rico head coach, Javier Gaspar: It was a tough day for us today. We made too many errors and we lost the first two sets with a close difference. In the third set we had lost our rhythm and we weren’t well emotionally. We worked hard in the last two weeks here in Greece and we saw progress in some players and things. It’s a slow process for us. I’m proud of my players’ effort, they fought to the end.
Puerto Rico team captain, Sequiel Sanchez: It was an amazing experience for us, against great players and great teams. We improved in many areas and learned a lot. Now we have to keep it up.