A few days after completing their national team duties at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Sir Susa Vim Perugia’s new star additions Yuki Ishikawa and Agustin Loser arrived at their new club and joined the squad’s preparations for the upcoming season about a month before its official start with the Supercoppa Italiana semifinals on September 21. Both spoke about their excitement to now be a part of the club that won four major competitions last season and admitted they were in for the trophies.

Both the 28-year-old Japanese outside hitter and the 26-year-old Argentinean middle blocker transferred to Sir from Allianz Milan after helping the club towards their historic success last year, the Italian SuperLega Credem Banca bronze and a first ticket to Europe’s most prestigious continental club competition, the CEV Champions League. Over the summer, they both played in the Volleyball Nations League and the Paris 2024 Olympics with their national teams, with Ishikawa powering Japan to a historic VNL silver and making the competition’s Dream Team again.

“Yuki and I played together in the last two seasons,” Loser told sirsafetyperugia.it. “There was a magnificent connection on the court, and also off the court, so I am very happy to play with him again. Before signing with Sir, we talked with each other and we wanted to play together again. And Perugia was a place that we both liked... At the time Luciano De Cecco was playing in Perugia I watched a lot of Perugia matches and thought that I wanted to play here. It was a dream, then it became a goal and now it is reality, so I'm very, very happy.”

Last season was extremely successful for Sir. The club from Perugia won the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship and the three major domestic trophies – the national championship, the national cup and the national super cup. In their first official match of the new season, they will take on Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza in one of the Supercoppa Italiana semifinals on September 21. The SuperLega regular season is set to start a week later, with Sir entertaining Rana Verona at the Pala Barton for their first-leg match. This season the club will also return to the Champions League after missing out on it last year. Playing under the name Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, they will start their European campaign in mid-November with a home game against Czechia’s Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice.

“I'm missing a trophy in Italy and I came here to get it!” Loser stated. “I hope to grow even more here and give everything I have to the team to win! I hope to do even more here, not to be the best, but to help the team win for all the objectives we play for. I'm very happy to finally be here! I've already talked a bit with the guys. I had a great time and I'm happy. The city is also beautiful and I've always really liked the Perugia fans.”

“I thought that Perugia was the perfect team for me because it wins a lot. It has very strong players and here I can grow even more,” said Ishikawa. “I have never won the Italian championship and I would like to win it, so my first goal is that. I have never played in the Champions League and I am looking forward to that competition as well this year. It is also an objective of mine. I would like to win this year, so let's go for it!”

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