The trophy of the XVII Softball World Cup has come a long way since May 16th when it was revealed for the first time as a guest of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
He has participated in many other sporting events, from Serie A football in Udine, to the Giro d’Italia in Mortegliano, to the snow and ice Olympics to come, in the splendid Milanese hut of the Milan/Cortina Foundation. He met many, enthusiasts and otherwise, between Lombardy and Piedmont.
Today it finally landed in Friuli Venezia Giulia which hosts the finals and which, in a month’s time, will deliver it into the hands of the athletes who will have won it definitively on the Castions di Strada diamond.
The official assignment symbolically took place in the hands of the President of the Region Massimiliano Fedrigawhich immediately supported the idea of hosting the World Cup, supporting it in a concrete and irreplaceable way, making it a crucial vehicle for the IO SONO FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA brand, a brand that identifies, here much more than elsewhere, the identity and qualities of this land.
“We believe that sport is a fundamental tool to support the image and economy of the Region – underlined the Governor during the ceremony in the Sala Predonzani – and also thanks to sport we have demonstrated how it is possible to support anti-cyclical policies: our tourism is grew constantly even in times of a certain downturn for other realities. With the Softball World Cup, then, we demonstrate that it is possible to move away from the large centers and that even the suburbs can be structured to host events of this level. I therefore thank the Federation and President Marcon for this opportunity.”
“I have never stopped reiterating – echoes the FIBS PresidentAndrea Marcon – that without the investment of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region it would not have been possible to achieve what we have done and are doing here in recent years. I am also proud to record how the assessments calculated by third-party entities speak of a fivefold return on the territory. A territory that, at the same time, has shown that it believes in what we do: the vast majority of companies that support us in this adventure are in fact linked to Friuli Venezia Giulia. So the synergy we were looking for from the beginning has certainly come true, just as the thanks I would like to express are mutual: the Region, the Municipality of Castions di Strada and businesses are the winning combination that allows us to carry out this project, without forgetting the fundamental help of the Government, in particular of Minister Abodi and the Department for Sports.”
“What we are taking is a very long journey – underlined the Mayor of Castions Ivan Petrucco – started with the 2021 European Championship, with the pandemic still ongoing, continued with the preliminary phase of last year’s World Cup and now the finals are arriving. I was amazed and also a little worried at the beginning, now we’ve got a taste for it and it seems almost easy. We are a small community that is dressing up to involve everyone, even outside the stadium, for a Blue Night that will move downtown to welcome our athletes. I am grateful for an opportunity for which we will be ready.”
The President of the FVG Regional CONI, Giorgio Brandolin, recalled the competition: “For this event, Castions di Strada was preferred to candidates such as Dublin, Barcelona and Dallas. This says a lot about the professionalism that our managers have managed to express. I always say that it is essential to keep up with the times and I must say that at an international level there is awareness and respect for the effort that the region makes in sport. Allow me to make an Olympic aside, given that Paris begins immediately after the Softball World Cup: we plan to bring around twenty girls and boys from the region. Another demonstration of how the system of our clubs, of all sports, works.”
The Technical Commissioner closed Federico Pizzolini, speaking about his team: “These girls have also embraced professionalism. Making the most of every bit of time to train. And above all they believe in it, they believe in what they are doing, just as we believe in them. At a certain point we will get to the match that will lead us to play for a medal. If the USA and Japan are out of reach, in terms of numbers and tradition, immediately after, together with the others, we are there too. This is the dream, especially because we play it at home.”
In the photo, from left: Pizzolini, Fedriga, Marcon, Brandolin, Petrucco (ph. Giovanni Montenero).
EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SOFTBALL WORLD CUP
from Trieste, Marco Landi
