Olympic Games: Nikola Karabatic with the French handball team in Tokyo

“It was a difficult choice, explained Gille on Monday during a videoconference.

The constitution of this list is the result of daily work and intense collective reflection with the technical staff.

We talked a lot with Eric (Mathé, his assistant) to determine the best associations and the team profile best able to make us achieve great Games.

It was intense work and a puzzle given the profile of the players.

But we are very proud and very happy. ”

“It was a difficult choice, explained Gille on Monday during a videoconference. The constitution of this list is the result of daily work and intense collective reflection with the technical staff. We talked a lot with Eric (Mathé, his assistant) to determine the best associations and the team profile best able to make us achieve great Games. It was hard work and a puzzle given the profile of the players. But we are very proud and very happy. ”

Unsurprisingly, the coach relied on a group formed around the three double Olympic champions, Michaël Guigou, Luc Abalo and Nikola Karabatic. Despite a year weighed down by a right knee operation following a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and his late return to competition, the leader of the France team and PSG will be well with the Blues this summer in Japan . “There was nothing insured or guaranteed, assured Gille about the back of PSG. For Niko, the course has been complicated this year. But the preparation was rewarding, it showed its ability to digest the large volume of work. Of course, there were questions, no more for Niko than for the others, but he showed that he had returned to a very interesting physical level. "

The PSG star will therefore make the trip, with several of his club partners since his brother Luka (pivot), goalkeeper Vincent Gérard and Nedim Remili (right back) will also be part of the adventure. If the latter will participate for the first time in the Games, he will be able to count on the experience of Kentin Mahé (Veszprém), Valentin Porte (Montpellier) or on the doublet, Ludovic Fabregas - Timothey Nguessan, recently winner of the Champions League with Barcelona, ​​all already present in Rio in 2016.

For Hugo Descat, Yann Genty, Dika Mem, Melvyn Richardson, Nicolas Tournat who complete the group, the Games will however be a discovery.

It will also be for the two substitutes, goalkeeper Rémi Desbonnet and back Romain Lagarde.

“The reserve players will train with us, will be in the gym during games but they will stay outside the village,” specifies Guillaume Gille.

We can rely on them in case of injury.

With the protocol and the remoteness, repatriating players from France would have been a headache and would have cost us four or five days.

"

Dylan Nahi (PSG), Elohim Prandi (PSG), Jean-Jacques Acquevillo (Nîmes) and Yannis Lenne (Montpellier), who had all participated in the preparation, were therefore excluded from the list.

THE LIST OF THE 15 SELECTED FOR THE Olympics Goalkeepers:

Genty (Paris SG HB), Gérard (Paris SG HB).

Descat (Montpellier HB), Guigou (Usam Nîmes Gard) (c).

N. Karabatic (Paris SG HB), N'Guessan (FC Barcelona).

Mahé (Veszprem), Remili (Paris SG).

Fabregas (FC Barcelona), L. Karabatic (Paris SG HB), Tournat (Kielce).

Mem (FC Barcelona), Richardson (NC).

Abalo (NC), Porte (Montpellier HB).

Desbonnet (Usam Nîmes Gard), LAGARDE (Pays d'Aix Université Club).