The French squad that is getting ready for the Men’s FIVB Grand Champions Cup to be held in Tokyo on September 12-17 has just suffered a major setback. Superstar Earvin Ngapeth has been ruled out of play due to lower back issues, per Worldofvolley.com.
He had already felt the complications of his injuries during the 2017 CEV European Championships, which prevented him from playing at his full potential, contributing greatly to France’s early elimination from the tournament.
He is due to return to his Italian club, Modena, this week for further evaluation. The extent of the injury is not yet known, but the necessity of intensive therapeutic procedures has not been discarded by team officials.
Who, if anybody, can step up for the French squad and provide the genius play that its most important player is so used to providing? During the 2017 World League, Stephen Boyer blossomed into a superstar during Ngapeth’s absence, becoming a focal point of France’s offense. However, once Ngapeth came back, his play earned him tournament MVP honors, even though he played only five of the 12 matches that the French partook in the World League.
Once again, the fans are robbed of watching a spectacular player doing his best at the sports biggest stage due to injury. Recently, we are seeing a lot of that: Marko Ivovic, Dmitry Kovalev, and Dawid Konarski were all out of the CEV European Championship that took place just weeks ago.
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