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FIVB Women's World Championship: Poland's Mirek issues warning to Euro rivals
Nagoya, Japan, November 7, 2006
Poland captain Joanna Mirek has a message for the other European teams in Pool E: Under-estimate Chinese Taipei at your peril!
Chinese Taipei have arrived in Nagoya for the second round with a perfect 5-0 win-loss record from Pool A in Tokyo, where their victims included Japan on opening night and later Poland.
In Nagoya their second-round opponents will be Serbia and Montenegro, Italy, Cuba and Turkey, and Mirek feels Chinese Taipei will be a threat to them all.
"They are unpredictable," says the 29-year-old Polish skipper.
"No one knows much about them, and if the European teams do not treat them seriously they will be in for a big surprise.
"Chinese Taipei are not afraid of playing tall opponents because they know how to block and know how to counter against taller players."
The average height of the Chinese Taipei squad is 1.74 metres compared to the 1.84 of Poland, and their tallest player is 1.83-metre middle blocker Lin Chun Yi.
They compensate for this lack of height and power with a game based on pace, precision and agility, and a high-speed pattern of attacks that leaves opponents dizzy and wondering where the next spike is coming from.
With five wins already under their belt, Chinese Taipei will now be eyeing a place in the semi-finals in Osaka rather than simply staying alive in the second round in Nagoya.
Poland come into the second round with a 3-2 win-loss record after losing to Chinese Taipei and Japan on the last two days of action in Tokyo.
Captain Mirek, however, says they have not given up hope of reaching the semi-finals because of the different style of the teams they will face in Nagoya.
"In the second pool we have opponents who play the European style and who don't have such good defence," she says.
"The Asian teams won against us because they were better in defence and we had a low percentage in attack. But we know European volleyball and we will not give up."
The four Pool A teams will play the four Pool D teams in Nagoya, bringing their first-round records with them, and the top two teams of the eight will enter the semi-finals. The bottom two will be eliminated.
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