Racist post against Paola Egonu, confirmation arrives

Federvolley president Giuseppe Manfredi returned to the incident that triggered the Italian player’s reaction

On the sidelines of the final for the world bronze medal – which Italy dominated against the United States, winning 3-0 – Paola Egonu became the protagonist of an outburst that quickly made the rounds of the web. After hinting that she might leave the national team, Davide Mazzanti’s opposite player then partially retraced her steps, talking about a probable ‘break’ from the Azzurri call-ups.

The controversy following alleged racist incidents of which the player was allegedly the victim was confirmed by Federvolley president Giuseppe Manfredi, who issued the following statements taken from ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’.

“After the match with Brazil the player was attacked on social media by some cretin with racist posts. She had not communicated any of this to us, otherwise we would have intervened. Team problems? From a technical point of view I would say no, the girls left crying, but in 6 months of living together and retreating, in any group and in all sports there can be problems. If there are we will have a way to deal with them and solve them,” he began.

“Paola in the national team? The door is always open and we would miss her, we are talking about an athlete who has tattooed the blue jersey on her skin. Now after such a long event, and in the heat of the moment, many things can be said. But now let’s all calm down, the next convocation is in April 2023 and I have no reason to think that she will not be there: by the way, volleyball promotes full integration, other than racism,” he concluded.