Angelina Grün为2011大奖赛撰文,指出她心中夺冠热门是巴西、意大利与俄罗斯。 她同时透露,由于脚伤已与沙排搭档拆伙。她表示寻找合适的新搭档很难,(这几年她在沙排成绩也很寡淡),进军伦敦奥运有难度。她首次松口表示考虑要不要回到室内排球。
Little points will be the difference for Germany Germany have had a hard start in this year’s World Grand Prix. The first game against Korea was tough, especially as they have some good young players at the moment. I spoke with Giovanni [Guidetti, Germany coach] and he said that Kim Yeon-Koung was a great player and has a good spike which caused them trouble. They are doing very well. It’s hard as other countries keep improving so you can never stand still. In many matches, like the one against China, they had the chance to win but couldn’t so it was nice to see them pick up the victory over Peru.
The squad is a good group who are always fighting but it is hard to constantly improve. They can still technically make the finals so I hope Germany go for it but it will be difficult. The little points will be the difference.
The strength of Germany is the group. But they develop also individually because more and more players play abroad and although it isn’t great for the German League it gives them international experience for the summer. Margareta Kozuch is always a strong player for us and we have a great middle block with Christiane Fürst. But if they win, they win as a team.
I think they will be motivated for the three games this weekend. Italy will be a great match as they could also meet in the European Championships and playing the US is always special. Hopefully they win but it is difficult as it depends on how other teams do in other pools. I’m sure Giovanni will be telling the players to just focus on their matches.
For the finals, I think Brazil will be there for sure. Brazil and Italy are the favourites for me. They don’t play with just one or two players but have a lot of people who make the difference. They have good players on the bench as well. Russia will also be in with a chance. But there could be a surprise. Japan did very well last year but I’m not sure if they can do it again.
The World Grand Prix is tough with all the travelling. Even if you’re tired you still need to be able to raise yourself for the matches. The points you win are important as well for the World Ranking and it also offers a great opportunity for young players to improve and allows the team to grow. I always enjoyed playing in the competition.
As for me, the injury to my foot is much better. My calf needs to grow a bit but now I’m fine. I’ve been practising on my own for a bit to get into shape for whatever it is I do next.
For the moment I need to digest the injury and the split from my partner. We both had different goals and it was a hard decision as we were both looking towards the Olympics. I was feeling comfortable on the tour, I was meeting new people and I liked the game. However it is not easy to find another partner and I need some time to decide what I want to do, whether it is beach volleyball or return to the indoor game. I’m curious to see what will happen and I keep practising to keep my options open.
Angelina Grün is a volleyball and beach volleyball player. She played for the Germany national team from 1997 to 2006 winning bronze in the 2002 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Hong Kong. She also competed at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. A nine-time German Player of the year (from 2000-2008) she has a host of honours at club level including two Champions League gold medals (with Bergamo), two CEV Cup gold medals (with Modena and Bergamo), three Italian Championships (with Bergamo), two Italian Cups (with Bergamo) and one German Championship (with USC Münster). In 2010 she joined up with Rieke Brink-Abeler to compete on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour with her highest finish being fifth at the Kristiansand Open in her first season.
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