The blue opposite, after the fourth place in Europe, will not be part of the expedition for the tournament scheduled in Lodz from 16 September
The news was in the air but the calls for Lodz remove all doubts. Paola Egonu will not take part in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Poland which begins on 16 September and ends on 24. It is the conclusion of an anomalous summer in which as a top player who is allowed a longer period of vacation, the blue opposite it has clearly become an increasingly difficult political case to manage. The preparation for the European Championship which began very late and the coach’s decision to keep her in the team to reserve for Ekaterina Antropova, a naturalized Russian who received her passport a few days before her debut in Verona, was the sign of a situation which it was degenerating.
The origins
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The current situation is the inevitable epilogue of a relationship that never took off and of a management of the Federation that leaves us at least perplexed. Paola Egonu is one of the strongest opponents around, there’s little to comment on this. You won in order with Novara, Conegliano and Vakifbank, the three clubs that still make up your professional career (next year you’ll be in Milan). She played her first Olympics in Rio at 16. In 2018 she was the protagonist of the World Cup silver and since then she has been the most representative player of the blue movement. Since then, however, relations with coach Davide Mazzanti have deteriorated more and more and last year’s World Cup blew the bubble: the player who on the one hand threatened not to return to the national team and a bronze that satisfied no one. At that moment she made her decision about her. Total support to the technician left free to decide her path.
Un’estate you have edges
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This year the truth has slowly come to light without ever having clear statements from either the coach or the federation. Egonu skipped the Vnl, Mazzanti excluded some senators who evidently no longer followed him and perhaps only Antropova’s passport problem prevented the coach from making a more radical choice. At the European Championship Egonu was on the bench making the double substitution. She made it to the semifinals but was unable to avoid the debacle in a match that Italy were one step away from taking home. Now the federal press release: “The Italian athlete, while reaffirming his attachment to the Italy shirt, has agreed with the technical commissioner and the federal president Manfredi not to participate in the tournament in Poland to take a rest period”. The coach who continues to carry out his “path”, as he has defined it for quite some time now even if it is not clear where it leads, and he will do so without the blue opposite.
Call them up
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The setters will go to Lodz: Alessia Orro, Francesca Bosio. Spikers: Myriam Sylla (C), Elena Pietrini, Loveth Omoruyi, Alice Degradi, Francesca Villani. Opposites: Sylvia Nwakalor, Ekaterina Antropova. Central: Marina Lubian, Anna Danesi, Federica Squarcini, Linda Nwakalor. Free: Eleonora Fersino, Beatrice Parish. Italy will face Thailand, United States, Slovenia, Poland, South Korea, Germany. The first two will go to the Olympics. Five other places will be defined by the international ranking
September 4, 2023 (change September 4, 2023 | 18:14)
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2023-09-04 15:59:19
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