Who? Agustin Loser, Argentina’s 23-year-old middle blocker who already has seven years of international volleyball to his name and who is making his mark in France with Tourcoing Lille Métropole.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Volleyball
Player to watch: Agustin Loser, Argentina
The middle blocker has been part of the Argentina squad since 2014
Published 05:00, 05 Aug 2021
Early Days - Agustin Loser was seen as a future star of Argentine volleyball as soon as he was included in the squad for the Poland 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship squad at the age of 16, though he didn’t play any matches.
His inclusion came after he had helped Argentina win silver at the U21 South American Championship earlier that year and it kick-started a run of four years of success for the player who hails from Gral Alvear in Mendoza.
In 2015 he left the FIVB Volleyball U19 World Championship with a silver medal, and a year on he helped his team go one better and win the U21 South American title in front of their home fans in Bariloche.
Loser was also making waves back home in the Argentine league with Ciudad Volley and in 2017 he was named Best Rookie player and as part of the league’s dream team.
That year he played in two age-grade world championships and won gold alongside Matias Sanchez, Jan Martinez, and Santiago Danani in the Egypt 2017 FIVB Volleyball U23 World Championship. He also featured in the Czech Republic U21 FIVB Volleyball World Championship where Argentina finished seventh.
Come 2018 he was among the hottest properties in the Argentine league and eventually, he signed for Bolivar who he helped win the league title and Volleyball Libertadores Cup.
He also made his national team debut and featured in the VNL and Italy-Bulgaria 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship.
Hitting the heights - Loser, who is 193cm tall, is now well-established in the Argentina team and his performances earned him a move to Tourcoing Lille Métropole in France.
By 2019 he was beginning to show the confidence and maturity of someone confident in their role in the team.
He was a mainstay of the Argentina team that won silver at the South American Championship, and he starred for the team during the FIVB Volleyball World Cup in Japan, where he was the sixth-best scorer in the entire tournament.
The highlight of the season for him, though, was the Argentinean victory at the Olympic Qualification tournament in China, where the South Americans defeated the hosts, Canada, and Finland to secure their place in Tokyo.
So far in 2021 - Agustin Loser scored 95 points as Argentina finished ninth in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League. He has been one of his country's top middle blocker at the Olympic Games so far with 2.50 average blocks per match.
What They Say - “He is a player who learns quickly, but what he has above all is that he does not like to lose anything. He has an aggressiveness and a desire to always win, which is very-important for his growth, in addition to a good serve, fast attack and blocking.” Marcelo Mendez.
What He Says - “Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday that I was playing in high school. So much has happened, even some things I didn’t expect, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. To have experienced all of that just at the beginning of my career just makes me more excited to keep exploring different situations.”
