The libero of the French volleyball team and the St. Petersburg club Zenit Zhenya Grebennikov regretted that Russia had lost the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

Initially, the 2022 Volleyball World Championship was to be held in 10 Russian cities from August 26 to September 11. However, due to the situation in Ukraine, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) moved the tournament to Poland and Slovenia. The Russian national team is deprived of the right to participate in competitions under the auspices of the FIVB.

– Russia was left without the World Cup. How did you react?

– It’s a pity to everyone who organized the World Cup in Russia. Now we have built good halls in Russia, we have been working on communication, this is two or three years. Now the World Cup has been moved to Slovenia and Poland. For Russia, this is not very good, sorry for the Russian volleyball players. The FIVB made such a decision, but this happens in life.

– Russia would be in the favourites?

– I think six or seven teams are favorites: France, USA, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Italy. Their fans would definitely help Russia.

– Your top three favourites?

– Poland, USA, Brazil. Apart from Russia, which will not be.

– Do you already know the starting six of France? Your new coach, the Brazilian Bernardinho, won the 2002 World Championship, a gold medal in the Athens Olympics and two silver medals in Beijing and London.

– I talked to him, he will soon send the start sheet. The group is more like that year. Let’s see who will be in shape, if there are any injured. In about a month, we will find out who will be at the first training session, ”Grebennikov told the Championship.

Zhenya Grebennikov won the European Championship, the World League and the 2020 Olympics as part of the French team. The 31-year-old volleyball player is the son of the famous Soviet volleyball player and coach Boris Grebennikov. He has been playing at Zenit since 2021.