KOBZAR Igor

General
RIO EXPERIENCE
He was critical of his performance at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and says he has learnt from his experience at the Games. "[I realised] that my level of play was lower than I thought. When I played at Zenit [Kazan], we defeated everyone. It seemed that the team was cool and I was not bad. But at the Olympics, where [Wilfredo] Leon and [Matt] Anderson were not on my side, everything turned out to be much more complicated. I descended from heaven to earth and realised that I had something to work on." (sport.business-gazeta.ru, 27 Jan 2017)

FATHER INFLUENCE
He says his father Andrey Kobzar has served as a role model for him during his volleyball career, and also played an influential role in his decision to play as setter. "He has served, and still serves as both an example and the main authority for me, and a critic who I always listen to. It was my father who insisted on my position. He explained to me that it would be very difficult for me to become a classy spiker as I did not have the most outstanding physical abilities, and my jump was not the highest one. But for a setter, my height was suitable, besides, there was shortage of setters in Russian volleyball at the time. I am grateful to my father for helping me to correctly define my role. I like being a setter. A spiker does not know when he will receive the ball, and it happens that he is idling. And a setter clearly understands that the second touch should be his, and he controls the actions of the partners." (asnta.ru, 17 Jun 2020)