Krakow is the third of six Poland cities which will welcome the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014 trophy
Krakow,
Poland, June 20, 2014 – Poland’s old capital was another stop of FIVB
Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2014 Trophy Tour. The trophy was displayed
in a tent right in front of Krakow’s brand new, state of the art Arena, with a
capacity of 15,000. Fans who came to see the trophy had reasons to
celebrate – Friday’s World League victory of Poland against Brazil 3-1 was and
the hall’s official inauguration made this part of Trophy Tour all the more
memorable.At a
special conference, held in the trophy’s tent, the fans had a unique chance, to
meet Poland’s world champions of 1974 – Stanislaw Gosciniak, Marek Karbarz and
Wlodzimierz Sadalski, who shared their memories and hopes for the future. The
guests were welcomed by the President of the Polish Volleyball Federation Miroslaw
Przedpelski.Miroslaw
Przedpelski, PVF President –“I’m very impressed with this hall – it’s simply
fantastic. If the players and fans tune in to its vibration, we are going to
have a great show and a win (indeed – Poland defeated Brazil 3-1). I hope the
Arena proves lucky for our volleyball and that you, my dear champions, will
soon have to share your title with the younger generation of players.”Stanislaw
Gosciniak – “It’s been 40 years now and we’re starting to feel the weight of
being “the old world champions”. We wish the best of luck to our national team
and hope for great World Champs. We remember very well all our ’74 matches. We
didn’t go to there as European or Olympic champions. We just went there to
play, to fight. Of course, we had our confidence already boosted by previous
victories – especially against the very strong Russians. Marek
Karbarz – "I’m especially happy to be here in Krakow, as I had a chance to play
for Hutnik for a couple of years, when it was one of the top clubs. I’ve
never seen a more beautiful trophy. Although in all truth, I haven’t seen too
many – Poland has won only one so far. I really hope that this year our boys
will manage to get it, so we can keep it here a little longer. It’s just a
thought but 40 years ago, when Poland won the title, Hubert Jerzy Wagner, the
young coach, was the first one not to prefer older players over the young ones
and gave many of them chances to play. Today, Stephane Antiga is the young
coach and, in my opinion, just like Wagner, he’s not afraid to introduce many
young players. So it seems that we’re going in the right direction. I hope that
after those 40 years the trophy will go to Poland again.”
Wlodzimierz Sadalski – “A young coach has more courage than the older one who, of course, has more experience but also knows that any failure can be his last. A young coach has his entire career still ahead of him. In those last 40 years we’ve been close to the highest volleyball prizes – why not win this year in Poland?”
Kraków will
be one of the host cities of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship
Poland 2014. Matches of the First Round’s Pool “D” will be played at Krakow
Arena from August 31 to September 7.The Trophy
Tour will make its next stop on Saturday in the city of Bydgoszcz (June 21-22).Volleyball
fans can also follow the Trophy Tour online and on Twitter @FIVBMensWCH #FIVBTrophy.