The new Perugia spiker, Yuki Ishikawa, arrived at Pian di Massiano yesterday and had his first session in the weight room, a coup from the signing campaign of president Gino Sirci’s club in view of the upcoming season.

In Perugia he meets Angelo Lorenzetti, who was the coach of his first year in the Italian championship: it was 2014 and since then his professional career has taken off. After the season in Modena he returned to Japan for a year and then returned to Italy and stabilized in the Super League: two consecutive seasons in Latina, one in Siena, one in Padua and the last four in Milan. A decade in which the Japanese hammer grew technically and enhanced its already innate physical qualities, starting from the extraordinary ability to elevate, to its undisputed technical qualities in the fundamentals, up to the variety of offensive shots typical of the Japanese school.

Born in 1995, on the threshold of 29 years of age, the call from Perugia represents an important leap for Ishikawa at this point in his career: «I thought that Perugia was the perfect team for me because Perugia wins a lot, has very strong players and here I can grow even more”

Over the course of these years, the Japanese spiker has met Sir Susa Vim as an opponent countless times and admits that playing at the PalaEvangelisti, in front of the Perugia crowd, has always been difficult: «The fans put pressure on so playing was difficult, but now I’m with you, the fans give us so much trust and emotion, so I can’t wait to play in front of the crowd!”

The new Juventus hammer has signed a two-year contract with the Juventus club and aims to fight for all the club’s objectives, with two goals, on a personal level, particularly special for him: «I have never won the championship yet so my first objective I just want to win it! And then this year there is also the Champions League and I have never played this competition either so the Champions League is also a goal of mine”

After the session in the weight room, yesterday afternoon Yuki Ishikawa also had the opportunity to become familiar with the tricolor Taraflex of the Perugian facility and does not hide his emotion: «They won last year so thanks to all those who played there last year: I would like to win this year too so let’s try!»