Azzurre Azzurre invincibili: women's volleyball Italy is world champion
In Bangkok, in the final act of the World Championships, the Azzurri beat Turkey 3-2, a stellar challenge and a team victory, with Egonu and Sylla leading the way
3' min read
3' min read
Italy Olympic champion in the Bangkok final, in front of 5800 spectators, beat Turkey in a thrilling match that ended in the tie-break, won 15-8. The absolute stars were Paola Egonu and Miriam Sylla.
Right from the start, the tension was high, but the Italian women started off on the right foot, strengthened by the favourable precedents (with the last four clashes with Turkey won by Italy). Paola Egonu and Melissa Vargas led, as expected, their respective teams in a first set that was still played point to point. Italy managed to prevail only in the last part, securing it with the result of 25 to 23.
Those who thought this was the prologue to an Italian monologue were disappointed. In fact, the tricolour national team switched off at the beginning of the second period and immediately went down 10-3. An inexplicable blackout. Julio Velasco was forced to use his time-outs to try to shake up the team, which lost lucidity and found itself down 15-6. And then 18-7, despite the entry of Ekaterina Antropova in the opposite position, called in to replace Egonu in difficulty. An abyss. And in fact came a peremptory 25 to 13 in favour of Turkey.
Fortunately, the third set began with a new front reversal. The Italian national team regained courage thanks to an ace from Sylla, who together with Paola Egonu dragged the Azzurri to 6-2. The game is played on the ball change, point to point, with a wall by Egonu setting the score at 15-11. Turkey got closer at 15-13, forcing Velasco to call a time out for setter Alessia Orro, before the final rush, when an overpowering service turn by Vargas put Turkey back in front. The last points were all a show of the two stars of the match: Vargas with an ace and a winning serve brought Turkey back to 24 even. But Egonu was not satisfied: first she crushed the Turkish court for 25-24, and then on her serve she hit an incredible ace that gave Italy 2-1.
In the fourth set, Italy tried to keep pace with Turkey but the Turkish powerhouses systematically got the better of the Azzurri. In just a few minutes, Italy found itself trailing 13-8. Egonu and Sylla were unable to reverse the negative trend of a partial in which the Italians seemed to melt away as in the second set, exposing themselves to the frustrations of the usual Vargas and the fast of the central Erdem, totem of Fenerbace. It ended 25-19 for Turkey and went to the tie-break.
