Vadim Ozhiganov: "Fans drove us forward, thank them for that!»

After the end of the season, Vadim Ozhiganov, a setter of Gazprom-Ugra, had a little rest and went ... to Bahrain, for the Asian Club Championship, strengthening the line-up of the Iraqi champion Gaz Al-Zubair from Basra. This is not the first such experience of Vadim, a year ago he played for the first time in the Asian Champions League for the same club. After the player returned home, we spoke with him about the unusual experience, feelings from the debut in the Superleague and plans for the future.

– Vadim, almost immediately after the season, you went to a rather busy tournament: for what, what is the motivation?

Show yourself, test your strength again, live a new experience. At all, this is a very interesting tournament., confirmed this last year. Many world-class stars are coming, there is an opportunity to go with them on the same platform, chat outside.

– It is probably especially difficult for the setter to enter the game “from the sheet”, practically no training?

Yes, had to establish game communications during the game, there was a misunderstanding, mismatch, roughness. But the general understanding of the game is about the same for everyone., all professionals, so we sorted it out quickly and there were no big problems. Sure, subtle nuances are tuned in the training process, but in general I got into the game without any problems.

– Who, except you, played for a team of legionnaires?

Player Alexander Petrov spent the whole season in this club. Besides me, Todor Skrimov and Serbian diagonal Nikola Melyanac arrived at the Asian Club Championship. At the tournament, the limit is no more than two legionnaires on the court, so most of the time in the game was spent by Skrimov and Melyanats. I changed the Serbian as part of a double replacement, came out with an Iraqi diagonal.

– How did you play?

We went to the first match after a single training session, from scratch, and lost dry to the champion of Iran. Then twice for 3:0 defeated Taiwan and Afghanistan, from the second place in the group advanced to the qualifying round. It had to win twice, but we immediately lost to the Qatar team, which ended up in third place.. The victory over Kuwait brought us to the joints for 5-6 seats. We won the first match against the champion of Mongolia, and in the match for the 5th place they again ended up in Kuwait and this time lost in a tie-break. Sixth place, a step up from last year's seventh.

– How do you feel after the tournament??

The load is serious, seven games in eight days. Good, that I had a week and a half to rest after the end of the season, otherwise it would be hard, as well okay. 16 teams played in two halls almost non-stop, with one day off. Into the streets of passion for 40, plus the sea around - high humidity, don't go out especially. And there was no time, hotel - hall - hotel. But I managed to see a beautiful clean city (Manama - prim. order.) with skyscrapers, with its own atmosphere. Kind, friendly people: somehow went to the nearest store, one person stopped, give you a ride, help? Pleasant.

intersected, talked to Artur Udris, playing for the Kazakh team, Dmitry Musersky (became the champion of Asia in the Japanese "Satori" – ca.. order.). Dimitri is fine, he was with his family, so we couldn't really talk..

– Let's get back to our reality. For you, last season was your debut in the Superleague…

cool feeling!
Unforgettable, top level.

– What immediately caught my eye after the "tower" "A"? What are the differences?

Very strong first steps. One side, hard against them, read the game well. On the other hand, it is much more interesting to play against such people.. Other speeds, different game quality, the cost of error is much higher. If in the major leagues you can add during the game and put the squeeze on, then here from the beginning to the end you need to keep the level, no way to relax.

– How do you rate your game??

I had big swings, apparently, from lack of experience. I couldn't keep up the same level.. Better towards the end of the season, but there is still room to grow, what to strive for. We must add, gain momentum as, speed, thinking.

– There were matches, who are especially remembered?

Playoffs with Belgorod, home game with Kazan, with Moscow, against Novosibirsk a good game was in the first round, a little bit was not enough, to put the squeeze on. Against Kazan, we had half a team of patients, but they all came out as one team and imposed a fight. In home matches, the fans help us a lot. A full hall came to the match against Belogorye, the atmosphere was amazing, it was very nice to play. And when we had failed games, they still came and drove us forward, thank you very much for this.

– And those very failed matches are not remembered, try to get them out of your head as soon as possible?

Not, can't forget quickly. The defeats settle inside, replaying them in your head all the time, analyze. Must be able to draw the right conclusions, and get rid of the emotional background, reboot.

– Where will you reload before the season??

At home, in Yoshkar-Ola. I will rest and I will slowly approach the loads - the gym, beach. Ahead of a new, very interesting season.