Tokyo, April 12, 2006 : Preparing for their first World Championships since 1994, Germany's men's team has been boosted by the return from beach volleyball of Marcus Popp.
The 24-year-old wing spiker, who plays for Italian A2 club Salento d'Amare Taviano, has been named in a 23-strong squad by national coach Stelian Moculescu at the start of World Championships year.
"Marcus Popp already had some national team experience, then decided to play beach volleyball," said the Romanian coach.
"Now he's back in the hall and I'm happy about that."
The squad includes three new faces: Malte Holschen (Duren), Christian Dunnes (Piacenza, Italy) and Thilo Spath, from the powerful VfB Friedrichshafen club.
"Christian Dunnes has trained well in Italy and overcome his physical problems; Malte Holschen is a candidate for the vacant middle blocker position following the departure of Stefan Hubner, and I want to try out libero Thilo Spath -- I have to think ahead," added Moculescu, who has coached the national team since 1999 and VfB Friedrichshafen since 1997.
The Germans will play in the European Championship qualification and European League in the build-up to the Worlds, where they have been drawn with reigning world champions Brazil, France, Greece, Cuba and Australia in Pool B in Fukuoka.
The squad is: Jochen Schops, Simon Tischer, Max Gunthor, Sebastian Schwarz, Thilo Spath (all VfB Friedrichshafen), Marcus Bohme, Felix Fischer, Patrick Steuerwald, Dirk Westphal (all SCC Berlin), Till Lieber, Malte Holschen (both evivo Duren), Frank Bachmann (SG uniVersa Eltmann), Bjorn Andrae, Christian Pampel (both Padua/ITA), Eugen Bakumovski (Ancona/ITA), Ralph Bergmann (Paris/FRA), Frank Dehne (St. Croce/ITA), Christian Dunnes (Piacenza/ITA), Robert Kromm (Modena/ITA), Marcus Popp (Taviano/ITA), Mark Siebeck (Olsztyn/POL), Norber Walter (Wien/AUT), Georg Wiebel (Maaseik/BEL).
