The Tokyo Tour is under way!

THIERRY OMEYER (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL GENERAL MANAGER):

"We're very happy to be in Japan, to be able to discover this country and its culture. This tour will enable us to promote Paris Saint-Germain via the handball section. It's also the first stage of our pre-season preparations and we're delighted to be starting them here, with two matches awaiting us: against the Zeekstar team and the Japanese national team."

DANIEL NARCISSE (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MANAGER):

"Ever since this tour was set up, I've been keen to enjoy this week with the players, but also with the Zeekstar team. The fans will get to see two teams with different styles. There's also the sharing of values, which I really appreciate. We've been extremely well received since we arrived and it's important for us to give that back to the fans."

RAUL GONZALEZ (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL COACH):

"It's a new season, we won't have many matches during our preparation, so the ones we'll play here are very important. The matches will be tough and fast. We know the style of our opponents. Thank you all for the invitation."

LUKA KARABATIC (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL PIVOT):

"I'm very honoured and proud to be touring Japan. It's an honour to discover this country. I was lucky enough to come here during the Olympic Games, but unfortunately it was during the pandemic and we weren't able to enjoy Tokyo. All we could do was visit the Olympic Village, so that was frustrating. Now we can do it all and meet people. It's totally different from what we know in Europe. We're looking forward to our two friendlies. We want to please the Japanese fans. We're going to give it our all."

NIKOLA KARABATIC (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL CENTRE-HALF):

"I'm very happy to be here. Thank you to the Zeekstar club and Paris Saint-Germain for organising this tour. It's important for us to prepare well. We can also experience Japanese culture. When we arrived, we had a chance to meet a few fans. We can't wait to play some matches here and discover the beauty of Japan. I've already played against the Japanese national team on several occasions. There's a lot of progress being made, with players who have come to play in France in particular. I remember that in 2015, we played them with Paris. They had a lot of fast players and it wasn't an easy match."

LUC STEINS (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN HANDBALL CENTRE-HALF):

"Thank you for welcoming us in such superb circumstances. We're delighted to be preparing for our season here and integrating our new players. We want to work hard to get next season off to a good start. Our two matches in Japan will help us a lot. I can't wait to find out more about the style of play here. It's very different from Europe. I hope to be able to analyse their game and improve my own. I'm also looking forward to finding out more about this beautiful country."

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