Setback for women’s Italvolley in Macao, China, in the second week of the Women’s Volleyball Nations League 2024.
At the Italian dawn of June 1st, the blues of Julio Velasco they gave up in the face of a great choral performance from Brazil Zé Roberto Guimarãesclosing with the deficit of 2 sets to 3 (24-26, 27-25, 25-18, 19-25, 10-15).
This is the second defeat – the first came against Poland in the debut match – of Anna Danesi and teammates, who were unable to repeat the excellent performances against France and the Dominican Republic, both of which they overcame 3-0.
The green and gold, silver medal at the VNL for three consecutive editions (2019, 2021, 2022), they started well from the first set, but had the merit of not falling apart under the deadly blows of the Italians in the central sets (second and third sets dominated by the Italians), in a match fought point by point and decided in the fifth.
Gabriela Guimaraes ‘Gabi’at the end of the match he reiterated the values that were decisive for the victory: “Today more than ever it was a great team effort, it was a demonstration of resilience”.
For Italy it was a match conditioned by too many errors starting from fourth set, especially in the service, which did not do justice to the reaction of character and great clarity displayed in the second and third sets, in which there had been no story for the Brazilians.
The 29 points scored by him were not enough Paola Egonu (Anna Danesi 15, Myriam Sylla 11): Ana Cristinaon the other side of the net, will make 22 but will reveal herself to be the director of game changer orchestrated in the fourth set, when Brazil scored six consecutive points which will give Italy the strength to close the match. In the last set the protagonist will be the usual Gabi (13 points in total), who takes control of the team by destroying the blue first line: despite the entry of Ekaterina Antropova which brings the Italians closer to a comeback up to 9-10, the game now belongs to the Brazilians, who close the score at 10-15.
This defeat costs the Italians in the world rankings – 3.68 pointswhile in the VNL ranking Italy gains one point, with 5 victories and 16 points.
Getting back to winning and grinding out results is the primary objective for the national team led by Julio Velasco with a view to the FIVB women’s world ranking which will close the June 17, 2024. Based on the ranking in force on that date, it will be established who will obtain the last five Olympic quotas For Paris 2024.
But Sylla has no hesitations about the quality of the progress made by the Italian team: “It’s a defeat, but we haven’t even been playing together for a week, it’s okay and we have to look forward.”
Since National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation in the Paris Games depends on their NOC’s selection of representatives in the delegation to Paris 2024. Click here to consult the official qualification system for each sport.
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