On Sunday, July 21st local time, the Japanese men's volleyball team held an open practice in Gdansk, Poland in place of a friendly match against Serbia, which was cancelled due to IT system problems.
After practice, we spoke with middle blocker Kentaro Takahashi, who had to leave the previous day's game due to injury.
Toshiki: How is it going now?
Kentaro: I'm fine.
Toshiki: You were sent off during yesterday's match against Poland. How do you feel looking back on the game?
Kentaro: I think that as a team we had a hard time defending against the opponent's mid-range attacks, which was an issue for us, but we still ended up with about four more blocks than the opposing team and we were able to cut the side-outs well, so I think that was really good.
Toshiki: There is one week left until the Paris Olympics. How do you want to spend this week?
Kentaro: I want to take game-style (practice) very seriously in my daily practice, and also, I want to keep my mentality, or rather, stay tense every day.
Toshiki: Kentaro, what area do you personally want to work on the most in the next week?
Kentaro: In addition to spiking, I would like to really hone my blocking skills, which are my weapon and strength, and make a positive contribution to the team, so I would like to continue working on that in the future.
Toshiki: Finally, please tell us your enthusiasm for the Paris Olympics.
Kentaro: We are really going to step it up a notch and do our best in our first match against Germany to get to our goal of winning the gold medal, so I hope everyone in Japan will support us. Thank you very much.
Photo: Author
[PR] "ALL for DREAM -Footsteps to Glory- Japan Volleyball National Team Nations League 2024" will be available on U-NEXT from July 27th (Sat.)
A documentary program that closely follows the unknown behind-the-scenes of the "Volleyball Nations League 2024" and traces the fierce battles will be streamed on U-NEXT.
[Distribution date and time]
July 27th (Saturday) 5pm Boys #1 Boys #2
August 3rd (Saturday) 5pm Women's #1
Saturday, August 10th 5pm Women's #2
Saturday, August 24th 5pm Men's #3
Saturday, August 31st 5pm Women's #3
September 7th (Saturday) 5pm Men's #4
Saturday, September 14th 5pm Women's #4
(Quoted from TBS TV release)
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