2023-09-24 22:27:00
The path of Polish volleyball players to getting a ticket to the Olympic Games in Paris was not strewn with roses. After the unexpected 2-3 defeat against the Thai team, many people had doubts, others had doubts after the European Championships. But in the last three matches of the event in Łódź – theoretically the most difficult – the Polish team showed great will to fight. Because they had good and bad moments in volleyball. Coach Stefano Lavarini said that Saturday’s victory over the Americans was due to courage. Kamila Witkowska, who appeared from the third set, explained Sunday’s success with two other factors. A 3-1 win ensured that she and her friends could celebrate and win their dream ticket to Paris.
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Witkowska, who had health problems at the beginning of the national team season, replaced Magdalena Jurczyk on Sunday. She showed off, among others: two important blocks. Lavarini showed his coaching skills not for the first and not the last time during this event. And what did Witkowska feel right after the last ball of the match?
– My heart jumped into my throat, tears started to fall automatically and I said to the girls: “We’re going to Paris. I can’t believe it happened,” Witkowska told journalists.
And she confirms that her biggest sports dream has just come true. About his role in Sunday’s meeting, he modestly says that he does not feel that it was the entrance of the dragon.
– I’m glad that I could make a small contribution to winning this ticket – she says.
He points to two elements as the decisive factor for this victory – concentration and great faith.
– The match against Thailand (2:3-ed.) was a bit of a let down for us, as we were counting on winning against this team. But we believed until the very end that we could get this ticket here. And that’s how it happened. We didn’t put down our weapons, we just picked them up from the ground and continued fighting for the next few days, he emphasizes.
She doesn’t hide the fact that she and her teammates were always thinking about the high stakes of Sunday’s match against the Italians.
– We were constantly thinking about “to be or not to be”. We watched the German-American match a bit before our match. But we knew that we had everything in our hands and we couldn’t count on anyone else but to take matters into our own hands and bring this tournament to the end. And so it happened – he sums up.
He says about the already completed qualifying tournament that it showed that the Polish women are a team that is already knocking on the door behind which there are the world’s leading teams.
– Of course, the European Championships were a bit disappointing, but we proved that we can win the qualifications. Although before the qualifications, probably not too many people had bet on it – admits Witkowska with a smile.
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