Paris off to a flying start

Match reports

On Monday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball played their first pre-season match for 2023-24. Currently on a training camp in Tokyo, Les Rouge et Bleu took on the Tokyo-based club Zeekstar, best known for being the last club of former Parisian Luc Abalo. The match was played in the magnificent 15,000-seat Ariake Arena.

Against a team in the middle of their season, our players took a few minutes to find their feet. They took the lead, but struggled to make the break for long periods, despite several superb strikes from Elohim Prandi. New Parisian signing Jacob Holm also delighted the Japanese crowd, and Raul Gonzalez's men now led more comfortably. This, combined with several saves from Andreas Palicka, sent the capital club back into the dressing room with a four-point lead (30': 14-18).

In the second half, the two teams put on a show for the fans with some exceptional goals. But also some impressive saves! A good number of them were made by Jannick Green. The Danish 'keeper won face-to-face encounters and even saved aa penalty. Offensively, despite the excellent home defence, the Parisians found solutions, with Léo Plantin scoring several times from the left wing. Against this backdrop, Paris Saint-Germain Handball came out on top against a team with a totally different style (60': 27-36). Our players will return to the Ariake Arena for the final day of their training camp - taking on the Japanese national team in Tokyo - on Wednesday. 

(Credits: L. Valroff/Team Pics/PSG)