Following the decision on the Paris Olympics groupings, Yuki Ishikawa said, "It's not an easy group by any means," and coach Blanc said, "Winning a medal is our dream," as Japan is in the same group as the United States and others.

The Japan Volleyball Association released a statement on the 27th following the decision on the men’s volleyball pairings for the Paris Olympics to be held this summer.

Japan, ranked 2nd in the world, has been placed in Pool C with the United States, ranked 5th, Argentina, ranked 8th, and Germany, ranked 11th. Captain Yuki Ishikawa commented through the association, “It’s not an easy group by any means. Every team is strong, so we can’t let our guard down. The matches against Germany and Argentina, these two teams, are very important.”

In the preliminary round, each team will play three games, and the top two teams from each group and the top two from the third-placed teams will advance to the final tournament, for a total of eight teams. The men’s volleyball preliminary round for the Paris Olympics will start on July 27th, Japan time.

Japan is aiming to win an Olympic medal for the first time in 52 years since the Munich Games in 1972. Coach Blanc commented, “Winning a medal is our dream, so I want to encourage the players to achieve that and to perform well on the court.”

[Comment from Director Philippe Blanc]

“We know the Olympic qualifying round will be difficult, and we don’t think we’re facing the worst or easiest opponents (after looking at the draw results). Anyway, we need to compete with these opponents to win a medal. It will be important to beat Argentina and Germany. (There are no easy opponents from the quarterfinals onwards) If we can advance in the qualifying round, we have a chance to face the team that finished third in the same round, so I hope we can beat the United States as well. We’ve been preparing for this tournament for the past three years. Last year, our goal was to qualify, and this year we’re focused on the great goal of winning an Olympic medal. We know that it’s very difficult to achieve that goal, but winning a medal is our dream, so we want to push our players to achieve it and to perform well on the court.”

[Captain Yuki Ishikawa]

“It is by no means an easy group. All the teams are strong, so we can’t let our guard down. The matches against Germany and Argentina are very important. The top three teams (the top two out of the three) will advance to the final tournament, but I think it will be a tough battle. Germany is ranked low, but they are an extremely strong team that qualified for the Paris Olympic Games last year, so we will be on edge. Our goal at the Olympics is to win a medal, so we will practice with that in mind. None of the games will be easy, so we will give it our all and perform at our best in every game.”

[Paris Olympics bracket]
Pool A
France (host country), Slovenia (3), Canada (9), Serbia (10)
■Pool B
Poland (1), Italy (4), Brazil (6), Egypt (29)
Pool C
Japan (2), USA (5), Argentina (8), Germany (11)
* ( ) is world ranking

Following the decision on the Paris Olympics groupings, Yuki Ishikawa said, “It’s not an easy group by any means,” and coach Blanc said, “Winning a medal is our dream,” as Japan is in the same group as the United States and others.

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