The composition of the golden Russian team is significantly different from the one that represented the country a year ago at the Olympics and even from the one that coach Sergei Shlyapnikov experimented with last summer in the World League. “SE” chose the golden six of young players who were not spoiled by performances at big tournaments, who should shine in the current Olympic cycle and will compete for medals at the 2020 Olympics.
Age: 22
Team:"Torch" (Novy Urengoy)
Role: finisher
At the tournament in Poland, he showed himself to be a real team leader along with Maxim Mikhailov, who has been leading our team for many years. Volkov was included in the symbolic team of the European Championship as the best finisher. Dmitry always attracts attention on the court with his very emotional behavior, which, according to the volleyball player, helps him feel the game better. In his youth, he almost ended his career due to congenital back problems. He spent part of the 2016 season in a cast due to a hand injury.
Age: 22
Team:"Torch" (Novy Urengoy)
Role: blocking
The 212 cm tall giant played for the national team at the 2015 European Championships, but did not qualify for the Rio Olympics. Coach Vladimir Alekno had questions about the dedication of the young volleyball player. However, Sergei Shlyapnikov returned Vlasov to the lineup, and Ilya proved himself to be excellent at the preliminary stage of the World League. On the eve of the Final Six, he suffered a leg injury, which forced him to miss the decisive segment of the World League and the Wagner Memorial. But he managed to recover in time for the European Championships.
Age: 26 years
Team:"Zenit-Kazan"
Role: blocking
He became famous for the phrase: “Whoever comes to the Russian national team and does not want to play can be burned at the stake.” He made his debut in the national team while still a player for Lokomotiv Novosibirsk in 2013 and immediately became the European champion. In the spring of 2016 he moved to Zenit Kazan. He looked great at the Rio Olympics, where he made the symbolic team. At the European Championships in Poland I was remembered for my selfless play in defense and reliable attack.
Maxim ZHIGALOV. Photo by Fyodor USPENSKY, "SE"
Age: 28 years
Club:"Belogorye"
Role: diagonal
In almost all matches of the European Championship, Sergei Shlyapnikov substituted Zhigalov at the end of the games, and Maxim justified the trust by making the most important aces. Zhigalov's 35 serves in Poland included 10 aces with 7 errors. In 2014, Maxim was disqualified for six months and missed part of the Belogorye season for failing to show up for the national team's training camp, but then realized his mistake and was forgiven.
Age: 22
Club:"Torch" (Novy Urengoy)
Role: finisher
Hero and anti-hero of the European Championship at the same time. Before the start of the tournament, Fakel's 22-year-old finisher was injured and even risked missing the tournament. However, the coaching staff still decided to take the volleyball player to Poland. Klyuk did not have time to get into ideal shape, so he sometimes made mistakes that aroused emotions among the fans, the coaching staff, and Yegor himself. In one of these episodes in the finale, he threw a bottle of water out of frustration. The throw was unsuccessful: the lid came off, water spilled across the court, and the match had to be paused to wipe the floor.
Age: 23 years old
Club:"Lokomotiv" (Novosibirsk)
Role: blocking
The Novosibirsk Lokomotiv player achieves success with the national team with enviable regularity. In 2013, he won the World Youth Championship with her, and two years later celebrated his victory at the Universiade. By the way, it was then that Vladimir Alekno invited him to the main team of the country for World League matches. At the European Championships, Kurkaev mostly came as a substitute, but did not spoil the overall picture and established himself as a person you can rely on.
SYMBOLIC TEAM OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017
MVP (Most Valuable Player):
Maxim MIKHAILOV (Russia)
Binder: Sergey GRANKIN (Russia)
Diagonal: Georg GROSER (Germany)
Blocking: Srečko LISINAC (Serbia), Markus BOHME (Germany)
Finishers: Denis KALIBERDA (Germany), Dmitry VOLKOV (Russia)
Libero: Lovi STUER (Belgium).
On September 28, 2018, the World Volleyball Championship among women's national teams begins. The head coach of the Russian national team, Vadim Pankov, has already announced the final composition of his team.
The Russian application consists of 14 volleyball players who will defend the honor of the country at the upcoming World Cup. In order to advance to the playoff stage of the main volleyball tournament, Russian athletes must defeat five teams that are in the same group with them.
Vadim Pankov decided to take 14 athletes to the largest volleyball tournament. The most widely represented players are those who can play in the position of “player”. The head coach called Irina Voronkova, Anna Kotikova, Ksenia Parubets and Olga Biryukova to the national team, who can play in this position.
The coaching staff will have a very wide choice regarding volleyball players who play the role of a “blocking player.” Irina Koroleva, Irina Fetisova, Ekaterina Efimova and Ekaterina Lyubushkina were called up to the 2018 World Championships. On the diagonals of the Russian national team, the composition will be quite predictable, since only two volleyball players were called up - Natalya Goncharova and Daria Malygina.
The role of the “link” in the matches of the Russian national volleyball team will be performed by either Evgenia Startseva or Tatyana Romanova. The functions of the “last defender”, or “libero”, will fall on the shoulders of Daria Talysheva or Alla Galkina. Thus, the head coach will have the opportunity to be flexible in the tactical transformations of the team, as well as make timely replacements for tired players.
Volleyball players of the Russian national team are already preparing for the upcoming tournament, which will be inaugurated in Japan on September 29, 2018. The initial draw has already been held, which determined the Russians' opponents in the first group stage. The Russians will have to compete with teams from Trinidad and Tobago, the USA, Azerbaijan, South Korea and Thailand.
The women's team has already begun preparations for the upcoming tournament. According to the coaching staff, the volleyball players want to repeat the current successes of the men's team, which not so long ago confidently beat the teams of the Netherlands and Italy, which were considered the favorites of their matches.
Experts say that this year the women's team has a very strong composition with good athletes, and the group in which the Russians will have to play is very passable. Of course, the USA is a tough opponent and the favorite of the group. Other teams may also become “dark horses” of the tournament. But the Russian team has every reason to compete for first place in the group and, as a result, for World Championship medals.
Head of the Zarechye-Odintsovo club near Moscow.
The corresponding decision was made at the presidium (VFV). The second candidate for this post was the head coach of Dynamo Kazan.
Vacancy in the main team of the country
The post of head coach of the Russian women's national team became vacant at the end of November, when Konstantin Ushakov was fired. Under him, the Russian national team performed unsuccessfully at the 2017 European Championship, losing to the Turkish team in the quarterfinals and failing to win the tournament for the third time in a row. Vladimir Kuzyutkin began preparing the Russian national team for the European Championship, who was appointed head coach in February, Ushakov then became the senior coach.
Under the leadership of Kuzyutkin, the Russian team qualified for the 2018 World Cup, took ninth place out of 12 at the World Grand Prix, and finished fourth at the World Champions Cup, where six teams participated. Before the European Championship, the VFW announced changes in the coaching staff - Kuzyutkin and Ushakov swapped places. Both coaches were fired in November.
According to VFW President Stanislav Shevchenko, both Pankov and Gilyazutdinov were worthy contenders. “I want to say that both candidates deserved the best words. After long debates and dialogues, we decided to appoint Pankov. The exact plan for preparing the national team has not yet been drawn up. The same coaching staff will remain to help (Pankov). We signed a contract with Pankov for two years,” — Shevchenko told reporters.
Gilyazutdinov believes that he will still have the opportunity to lead the national team.
“Working in the Russian national team is very responsible. I think that I will still have the opportunity (to lead the national team). We’ll wait and see. I positively assess this decision of the VFW. Vadim Anatolyevich is an excellent candidate for the post of head coach of the Russian national team. I have known him for a long time - for a long time, I understand the decision of the VFW, I fully accept this decision. Pankov has more experience, he has already worked in the national team,” Gilyazutdinov told RIA Novosti.
The new coach waited 10 years for his chance
Pankov became a contender for the post of head coach of the women's national team back in 2008. Then, after the resignation of Italian coach Giovanni Caprara, Pankov led the team in the 2009 Grand Prix qualifying tournament. At the beginning of 2009, he put forward his candidacy, but the VFW presidium then chose Kuzyutkin.
After this, Pankov, whenever the position of head coach of the national team became vacant, nominated himself, but preference was not given to him. In 2014, the VFW appointed Pankov, who has established himself as a specialist in helping young players achieve progress, as the head reserve coach for the national team.
After his appointment, Pankov spoke about the main tasks of the team. “The task is to prepare for the Olympic Games and involve promising young people. At the 2018 World Cup, the task is to enter the final part of the tournament. This means getting to the semi-finals and fighting for medals,” he told reporters.
The coach noted that it is too early to talk about who will join the national team.
"Everything will depend on the health of the players. Right now we are not talking about the lineup. Our task now is to monitor how the candidates play, who to invite. The preparation plan is the same: the championship ends, the Champions League, and then the Nations Cup begins. He will play there every time new team (line-up), we’ll look at the players,” he noted.
"We will trust young players"
Famous Russian coach, two-time Olympic champion, head coach of Uralochka-NTMK (Sverdlovsk region) Nikolai Karpol told RIA Novosti that he expects good results from the women's team under the new head coach.
“Vadim Anatolyevich has been working as a coach for quite some time. He became the national champion and won the European Cup. We will expect a good result from the Russian national team (under Pankov). However, not everything depends on Pankov alone. The result depends on the clubs, on the work of the federation,” - said Karpol.
According to the VFW president, the new coach will combine work in the national team and in the club.
“During the presentation, Pankov emphasized attracting young players. That is, before the Olympics, we will have the opportunity to test young people in three years. This was stated in Pankov’s program; we will trust the young,” Shevchenko said.
The head coach of the country's men's volleyball team, Vladimir Alekno, a month after the Olympics in Rio, where the team was left without medals. The national team coach held this position three times. “AiF-Kazan” talks about Vladimir Alekno.
Vladimir Alekno. Photo: AiF/ Ruslan Ishmukhametov
Vladimir Alekno was born in Belarus, in Polotsk, in 1966. His mother is Belarusian by nationality, his father is Lithuanian.
He started playing volleyball at the age of 10, at the age of 14 he went to a sports boarding school in Minsk, and four years later he began playing for SKA Minsk, then moved to CSKA. With this club, he became the champion of the USSR twice in a row in 1985/1986 and 1986/1987, won the USSR Cup and the European Champions Cup. His titles include the champion of Bulgaria with Levski and the winner of the French Cup.Coaching career
Alekno spent 13 years in France and it was there that he began his coaching career. In 1999, he first became a player-mentor in the French Tour, and after the team’s success in the national championship, he focused on coaching. Five years later, Toure became the champion of France. In the same 2004, he was invited to work in the Russian Super League, and in 2005 he became the coach of Dynamo. In the same season, under his leadership, the club won the Russian Championship (for the first time since 1951).
In 2007, he headed the Russian men's volleyball team. And in 2008, volleyball players won bronze medals at the Beijing Olympics, thereby repeating the success of Athens. That same year, Alekno's contract with the national team expired. He went to work at Dynamo Tattransgaz (Kazan), where he continues to work to this day. Now the team is called Zenit-Kazan. In Kazan, he repeats the success - in the 2008/2009 season, Zenit becomes the champion of Russia, and Alekno becomes the first coach who managed to win the championship with different clubs. Zenit-Kazan was a champion under his leadership for three seasons in a row - from 2010 to 2012, in 2011/2012 the club won the Champions League.
Successes and failures
From 2010 to 2012, Alekno again headed the Russian men's volleyball team. With him, the team becomes the champion of the London Olympics in 2012. On the eve of the New Year, Vladimir Alekno announced his intention to leave the national team. On July 17, a year before the start of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he returns to this post for the third time. However, the reigning Olympic champions remain without medals in Brazil. In the semi-finals of the competition they lose to the Brazilians with a score of 0:3, and in the match for third place they lose to the US team.
At the end of September 2016, Vladimir Alekno will focus on working at Zenit Kazan. For the last three years, the Kazan team has been playing for the club, and this year, repeating, his 20-year-old son Laurent also plays for the club. 29-year-old daughter Ekaterina lives abroad.
Coaching achievements
- Olympic champion (2012).
- Winner of the World League (2011).
- World Cup winner (2011).
- Bronze medalist of the Olympic Games (2008).
- Three-time Champions League winner (2011/12, 2014/15, 2015/16).
- Eight-time Russian champion (2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16), silver (2006/07) and bronze (2012/13) winner of the Russian Championship.
- Four times winner of the Russian Cup (2006, 2009, 2014, 2015),
- Four times winner of the Russian Super Cup (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015).
- French Champion (2003/04)
Awards and titles
- Order of Honor (February 2, 2013) - for victory at the London Olympics in 2012.
- Honored coach of Russia and Tatarstan since 2012
- Honorary citizen of Kazan since 2012.
The Russian national volleyball team is the successor to the Soviet volleyball team. The first official match was held in 1993 in Moscow. The team is currently ranked fifth in the FIVB rankings. The current coach of the national team is former Soviet volleyball player Sergei Shlyapnikov. Sergei Tetyukhin played 320 matches as a member of the Russian volleyball team. This figure is the best among all players of the national team who have ever defended its colors.
Current composition
Currently the team consists of thirteen volleyball players. The three central forwards are Vadim Likhosherstov, who plays for the Fakel club, Dmitry Shcherbinin, who represents Dynamo Moscow, and Lokomotiv volleyball player Ilyas Kurkaev.
Two setters who were included in the Russian national volleyball team in 2017 for the World League were Sergei Antipkin, who defends the colors of Dynamo Moscow, and Ural player Dmitry Kovalev.
The team's coaching staff also called in three diagonal players. They were Alexander Chefranov from the Gazprom-Yugra volleyball club, Fakel volleyball player Alexander Kimerov and Belogorye representative Maxim Zhigalov.
The positions of finishing players in the Russian national volleyball team in 2017 are Dmitry Volkov and Egor Klyuka, who defend the colors of “Fakel”, as well as Ural volleyball player Egor Feoktistov. The coaching staff called Roman Martynyuk from Belogorye and Artem Zelenkov from the Dynamo-LO volleyball club to play the role of libero.
Matches
Since the spring of 1993, when the Russian national team played its first official match after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the team has taken part in 653 matches. The team's opponents were volleyball players from 44 countries. In total, the national team won 472 matches and lost 181 times.
The Russian athletes won the first game against the United States team in three games. The longest winning streak is 19 matches and the longest losing streak is 12 games.
Records
One of the well-known Russian sports publications, together with the Volleyball Federation, created two ratings: Club “200” and Club “2000”. The first club included national volleyball players who played more than two hundred matches, and the second included athletes who scored over two thousand points.
The “200” Club includes eight athletes. The first line is occupied by Sergei Tetyukhin, who has defended the colors of the Russian national volleyball team since 1996. He played 320 matches on the court, 46 of which were at the Olympic Games, 21 matches at the World Championships, 46 games at the European Championships, 147 matches at the World League. Tetyukhin also took part in 34 World Cup matches, 24 qualifying matches for the Olympics, World Cup and European Championship, and also played 2 Euroleague matches. Sergei is the only player of the Russian national volleyball team who has played more than 300 matches.
In second place is Alexey Kazakov, who played 276 matches. He is the leader in the number of matches played in the World League (152 matches). With 254 games under his belt, Konstantin Ushakov took third place.
Club “2000” includes 6 volleyball players. And in this ranking the leader is also occupied by Sergei Tetyukhin with 3002 points to his name. He is the only volleyball player to score more than 3,000 points. In second place is Dmitry Fomin with 2762 points. The third is Ruslan Olikhver, who scored 1113 points and played 1342 innings.
Fourth place went to Maxim Mikhailov, who scored 2315 points. He is the only member of the 2000 Club who has a “0” in the “Innings Played” column.
Achievements
The Russian volleyball team won its debut medal in 1999, taking first place at the World Cup. Three years later, the team won its second gold. This time, the Russians submitted to the World League. Also in 2002, they became silver medalists at the World Championships. In 2005, Russian athletes won the Euroleague.
I had to wait six long years for the next medal. Only in 2011 was the Russian national team able to win the World League. Volleyball players also won the World Cup. In 2012, the Russians were able to achieve their main goal - they became winners of the Olympic Games. In the final of the London Olympics, Russia beat the Brazilian team in five games. Having lost the first two sets, the Russian athletes were able to rally and win the next two games. In the decisive set, the Russians were stronger than the South Americans, beating them with a score of 15:9.
In 2013, the team took first place at the European Championship, the World Champions Cup and the World League. Since 2013, the Russians have not been able to win a single medal.
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