The Wagner Memorial Cup is an invitational tournament hosted by Poland and held every summer. This year, which is an Olympic year, Poland was invited to compete in the tournament along with Slovenia, Germany, and Egypt, three countries scheduled to compete in the Paris Olympics. Poland won all of their matches and won the tournament.
After the tournament, we spoke with Jakub Kochanowski, who was also selected as the tournament's Best Middle Blocker.
Toshiki: How do you look back on the tournament? You seem a lot more tired than usual.
Kochanowski: Yes, it was a very difficult weekend for us, with three matches in a row and very intense training the week before, so yes, we are tired of course.
Toshiki: What do you think you learned from this tournament?
Kochanowski: I'm sure our staff will have a lot of material to analyse. We will learn something from each match, but what we learn from this tournament will be presented next week, probably next Wednesday before the first training session.
Toshiki: How do you look back on your individual performance?
Kochanowski: I still have some work to do, but overall, we are giving it our all in the gym and in the training room at this time of year. I think we are feeling very good. I am personally very happy.
Toshiki: Japan will play a friendly match against the United States next weekend. What do you think the match will be like?
Kochanowski: It's definitely going to be a tough match. Especially against Japan, they're definitely going to maintain a high level throughout the match, as they always do, so we'll have to be at our best to win. The same goes for the USA.
Toshiki: What is your impression of the current Japanese team?
Kochanowski: I think they're in the best shape they've ever been in. They're playing the best volleyball they've played in years. They're definitely one of the favorites to do well at the next Olympics. And they'll definitely prove that here next weekend in Poland.
Photo: Author
English 
Japanese