Fuzhou, China, April 21, 2015 - Last year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open winners Youssef Krou and Edouard Rowlandson take on Mats Kovatsch and Jonas Kissling of Switzerland and Michal Bryl and Kacper Kujawiak of Poland in the first two of their three Pool H main draw matches at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Fuzhou Open 2015 on Wednesday. Krou spoke to the
French Volleyball Federation's website ahead of the 2015 World Tour opener.
How have you prepared for the new season?Youssef Krou: "It was my first preparation for a beach volleyball season as I was still an indoor player a year ago with Cannes. It involved a lot of physical training, which is normal as we have a six or seven month season to look forward to. If you do not train hard ahead of the season, things can get difficult during the season. I think we have done all we could to have a good season, both physically and technically."
You trained in Egypt and the Canary Islands. What did you work on?Youssef Krou: "We spent a week in Egypt where we were able to train with 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour champions Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins. We stayed by the sea and worked very hard. The Latvians were an inspiration as they are consistently at a high level, and that is what we have to aim for too. We followed that training camp up with another in Tenerife, where we had different kinds of weather, including sun, rain and wind."
You spent a week in France before heading for China. How did you prepare for Fuzhou during that week?Youssef Krou: "We spent the week adapting to the time zone we will be in when the Fuzhou Open begins, getting up earlier every day. On Tuesday, we got up at about five, on Wednesday at three and from Thursday to Saturday between one and two in the morning, which meant going to bed at six or seven. We travelled to China on Sunday morning."
Your preparation seems ideal. You must be keen to start playing?Youssef Krou: "Yes, that’s true. We are keen to see how we measure up. We were able to carry out a few tests in Tenerife, which was very useful. We know we did quite well last year, but we were keen to find out whether our preparation for the new season has been effective. We won three of the five matches we played, so the result was positive."
Do you think you can win the Fuzhou Open?Youssef Krou: "We never go anywhere without wanting to achieve a result. Otherwise, it’s not worth going. We hope to finish in the top five. A place on the podium would be great."
Related information:
Fuzhou Open - Men's main draw