2023-09-16 20:30:33
After failing in the semi-finals of the European Championship against Italy on Thursday (25-21, 25-19, 25-23), Earvin Ngapeth gave an interview to AFP, where he discussed the chances of Olympic gold for the French team. And for him, the Blues have a great chance of retaining their title, gleaned in Tokyo in 2021, in eleven months.
The volleyball star first brushed off criticism after the three-set loss to Italy: “When you lose, you see all the negative sides. At a certain point, you have to remain lucid and see what is positive, we struggled for two months, but we made it to the semi-finals.”
Very confident, the receiver-attacker explained that the Blues had a great chance of shining during the 2024 Olympic Games: “It’s not worrying for us, because we know what happened. We didn’t show our true colors (…) I’m quite confident, I’m quite serene. The most important thing for us is to arrive in good physical shape. (…) We will work and in less than a year, we will be Olympic champions, because we will be complete, we will not have had any physical problems.”
“It’s the longest injury of my career”
After a four-month break following a knee injury, Earvin Ngapeth relapsed during the Volleyball Euros and was unable to play against Bulgaria in the round of 16. And the 32-year-old blames his former club, Modena, for not playing fair with him: “It’s the longest injury of my career. Modena didn’t do the job. I said that my knee hurts, there were no in-depth examinations carried out. (…) The club has a huge responsibility, we did not have the possibility of turnover, of resting senior players, I think they preferred not to tell me that there was a crack on the tendon. »
The receiver-attacker will play for Turkish club Halkbank Ankara next season. The opportunity to prepare in the best possible way to arrive in Paris in good shape.
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