Lozano: It’s a shock for me to refuse to play for the national team of a country that has been fighting for three years

Head coach Ukrainian men’s volleyball team Raul Lozano commented on the refusal of a number of players to come to the national team’s training camp.

“To be honest, it was a real shock for me. I was sure that this was impossible in principle, and even more so in a country that had been at war for three years. After all, I came here to help Ukrainians, to further raise the prestige of this country in the international arena. And suddenly this happened.”

“The most unpleasant thing in this situation is that the vast majority of refuseniks themselves did not call me and did not come to the collection, but passed on information through their agents. In this regard, I would like to emphasize that I have been working in volleyball for many years, I constantly keep in touch with people and am always open to communication with each player. Therefore, there is no need to transmit any information to me through third parties. Come, call, talk. Only Dmitry Vietsky did it correctly, as expected. I came to Gorodok myself, we talked to him and discussed all the issues.”

“The doors are open to every player who is a patriot of his country and is ready to fight for its flag. For those who don’t need to be asked and who understand the importance and significance of the national team. I can still understand veterans, those who are over thirty, they don’t have much to prove. But what about the fact that among those who refused there are very young guys whose real sports career is just beginning?”

“By the way, I can cite Nikolai Rudnitsky as a positive example. He is now 42 years old and initially, although he was on the list of candidates, he was not invited to the first training camp. And when such a situation arose, he immediately responded, collected his things and showed up for training. This is what real athletes should do.”

“Now as for those who refused. As far as I know, the leadership of the Volleyball Federation will raise the issue of their disqualification. And I believe that this will be an absolutely correct decision. These volleyball players themselves made this decision and must be responsible for it themselves.”

Earlier it was reported that eight players of the national team ignored the call to the training camp before playing in the Golden Euroleague. For various reasons, Oleg Plotnitsky, Vasily Tupchiy, Ilya Kovalev, Dmitry Teremenko, Yan Ereshchenko, Vitaly Shchitkov, Vladislav Shchurov, Timofey Poluyan refused to perform. The leader of the blue-yellows, Plotnitsky, for example, said that he was conducting a medical examination after the season in Perugia.

The Executive Committee of the Volleyball Federation of Ukraine approved the candidacy of 67-year-old Lozano. The Argentinean will combine work in Ukraine and the Japanese club JT Thunders.

In his position, Lozano replaced Ugis Krastins, who led the Ukrainian national team since 2017. Under his leadership, the men’s team won and took prizes in the Golden Euroleague and reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Championship. Ukrainians failed to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.