Polish volleyball fans suddenly have a reason to smile. Team Poland’s two biggest worries as it gets ready to defend its World title in FIVB’s upcoming 2018 World Championships are, even if for now, solved. The Polish federation recently named Vital Heynen as the team’s head coach after a lengthy soap opera, and now, Bartosz Kurek is back from injury and made his 2018 debut for Turkey’s Ziraat Bankisi this weekend.
Kurek started Ziraat’s game against Besiktas, played two sets, and scored 2 points on 2/3 hitting. A very slow start, much like Thaisa Daher‘s recent debut for Barueri (another international superstar who hadn’t seen the court for much of 2017), but he can only get better from here on.
Kurek is one of Poland’s biggest stars and if the national team hopes to defend it world title, his health will be a major factor in it. He has been suffering from a chronic foot injury for quite some time now. Here is an excerpt from an interview given by Kurek on his condition to the Polish media that was posted on VolleyMob only last month:
“The injury I have suffered is severe, chronic and is the result of many years of playing practically without any rest. My foot now requires a moment of free and sufficiently long rehabilitation. Unfortunately, this does not work in any way on my favor, because we are in the middle of the season. But I still hope that this year I will show the fans my presennce on the courts. I believe that I will still be able to wear a Ziraat’s Jersey and I will fight for some high goals together with the team, because that’s what we are aiming at.”
Also on VolleyMob
Kurek is a two-time Olympian (London 2012 and Rio 2016), a 2009 European Champion, a gold medalist of the 2012 World League, a silver medalist of the 2011 World Cup, a bronze medalist of the 2011 World League, the 2011 European Championship and the 2015 World Cup, a three-time Polish Champion (2009, 2010, 2011), and Italian Champion (2014).
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