Montpellier (AFP)
Touched to the ribs, Earvin Ngapeth, the star of the French volleyball team should be given at the latest for the knockout matches of a Euro at home which begins Thursday and he sees as a "gift" that it "should not be spoiled".
Q: Is this the right time for your generation to compete in a European Championship at home?
A: "I think it's a good time, before we were not ready, since 2011, we've been with this group and everything we've done, it has made French volleyball even better. Over the last three years, we have missed out on the big competitions, but today we are really seeing it as a gift that falls on us: if in 2011, we were told that we would have the Euro at home, we would not have believed. "
Q: The pressure on the team is going to be extremely strong?
A: "A big competition in France is not that we are waiting for it, but all the French volleyball, after that, it is not necessary that it takes precedence over the objective. we say to ourselves + It's the volleyball festival! + because it's not true, it's not that, it's a European Championship and we have to stay focused on the fact of It's a beautiful thing we've been waiting for, but we still have less right to miss than the other competitions we've played.
Q: Would you say it's an achievement for your generation?
A: "We have so much trouble, that we want to be good, not only since the beginning of summer, but since we know that we will have the Euro in France, it's In our heads, Laurent tells us all the time that we are more likely to compete in the Olympics than to play a Euro at home, and we take it as a thank you, the fact that the federation has fought for we get this European Championship, it was taken as a great gift, compared to what we did in the beginning, after that, it's not an end, behind there are the Games. And we're not going to let go like that because behind there is 2024. We have plenty to do yet, it's like a gift but do not spoil it, it's too good. "
Interview at a press point in Paris.
© 2019 AFP