After the group draw (Italy was included in Pool C with the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and Turkey) the women’s Olympic tournament finally saw the dates determined.
Julio Velasco’s team, fresh from the success in the VNL and which openly aspires to at least the podium (the first in history), will debut on July 28th at 9 am against the Dominican Republic; the other matches of the group (the first two plus the two best third-placed teams pass) are against Holland (1 August at 5pm) and Turkey (4 August at 9am).
A blue and white derby
Looking back at the first match, the match against the Central American team will be the occasion for a sort of derby between two of the most advertised players of Savino Del Bene Scandicci.
They will face each other Ekaterina Antropova on the Italian side, first alternative of Paola Egonu in the opposite role, and Brenda Castillo, libero returned to wear the blue and white shirt after the season spent in Milan. The prediction clearly leans in favor of the Italians, but every match must be played and it is not a cliché.
The complete calendar of the women’s tournament
Sunday 28th July
(Pool C) Italy-Dominican Republic at 9am
(Pool B) Poland-Japan at 1pm
Monday 29 July
(Pool C) Türkiye-Holland 9am
(Pool B) Brazil-Kenya 1pm
(Pool A) United States-China at 5pm
(Pool A) France-Serbia at 9pm
Wednesday 31 July
(Pool A) United States-Serbia 5pm
(Pool B) Poland-Kenya at 9pm
Thursday 1st August
(Pool C) Türkiye-Dominican Republic at 9am
(Pool B) Brazil-Japan at 1pm
(Pool C) Italy-Holland at 5pm
(Pool A) France-China at 9pm
Saturday 3 August
(Pool C) Netherlands-Dominican Republic 9am
(Pool B) Japan-Kenya 1pm
Sunday 4 August
(Pool C) Italy-Türkiye 9am
(Pool A) France-United States at 1pm
(Pool A) China-Serbia at 5pm
(Pool B) Brazil-Poland at 9pm
Tuesday 6 August
Quarter Finals 9am; 1pm; 5pm; 9pm.
Thursday 8 August
Semifinals at 4pm and 8pm
Saturday 10th August
Bronze medal final at 5.15pm
Sunday 11 August
Gold medal final at 1pm
