Paris (AFP)

"We know very well that it is complicated," said Benjamin Toniutti, captain of the French volleyball players forced to exploit in Berlin from Sunday to Friday to win the last European ticket available to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

Q: What inspires you from the Olympic qualification tournament which begins on Sunday and promises to be very tough?

A: "It's a mini European Championship, without Russia, Poland and Italy (already qualified, editor's note), but with the European champion (Serbia), the vice-champion of Europe ( Slovenia) and the fourth in Euro-2019 (France), and there is only one place. We already experienced this kind of tournament four years ago, even if it's a little different In 2016, there was first place directly qualifying, second and third places allowed to have an affordable second chance, while there there is only one place. It is the mission to go there: volleyball, there will be four European countries, while 80% of the best teams are in Europe. We know very well that it is complicated, we lost our first qualification tournament in Poland, which is double reigning world champion. Here we are going to play our luck thoroughly. "

Q: You find yourself in a group with Serbia and Bulgaria, two teams that you faced three months ago at Euro-2019. What inspires you?

A: "Serbia is the team that will arrive with the most confidence after their result at the Euro. They left after this victory, each player individually plays well in his club. there is no major Euro player absent. The Bulgarians, three weeks before the Euro, they were three match points away from defeating Brazil and qualifying for the Olympic Games. "is a very dangerous team and they will clearly take their chances to hang this last ticket. They completely missed their Euro. There they have recovered in a qualification mode at the Olympic Games and they will be present."

Q: Did your European Championship, concluded in fourth place, also allow you to regain confidence?

A: "We haven't played like that for a long time. We were absent for five or six minutes in the tie break of the semi-final. There were a lot of positive things during this Euro, in terms of quality of play and engagement. I hope that we will be in the same line in Berlin and that in the end there will be a qualification. It is an obstacle course and I hope that we're going to get out on January 10. "

Words gathered during a press point.

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