Men’s European Championships, Italy’s 14 call-ups

Men’s European Championships, Italy’s 14 summoned

The European adventure kicks off tomorrow for Ferdinando De Giorgi’s men’s national volleyball team, which will meet in Bologna, site of Monday’s Aug. 28 debut match with Belgium. After the Wagner Memorial, played and won in Krakow by the Azzurri, the coach made his choices on the 14 who will take part in the continental review. Having dissolved the doubt on the role of opposite, it will be Alessandro Bovolenta to flank Yuri Romanò.

"The last choice that remained to be made was the one on opposite, I wanted to take advantage of the Wagner Memorial to have a clearer idea. The choice è fell on Bovolenta, who was part of this group at the beginning of the season for a week before taking part in commitments with the U21 national team, which I needed to see again,” De Giorgi said. “I want to thank Gironi, who è been important throughout the summer, gave his soul at all times. These are choices about this competition, they are not failures”.

“We had to choose what was best for the moment. For Bovo I think it is a good opportunity, è he is a very interesting guy and I think this is a good experience for him, I am sure he will be useful for us in the long journey that we will do in the European. I am convinced that this European Championship will be a beautiful moment for our volleyball, as we are seeing with the women's European Championship with so much involvement”.

“We will go to different cities, there will be great affection and this will be a very positive aspect. From a technical point of view it will be a very competitive European, with several teams that will fight to win. There are no clear-cut favorite teams, the differences between those aiming for gold are not so clear-cut, it will be important how we prepared ourselves to face this European”.

These are the summoned:
Dribblers: Simone Giannelli, Riccardo Sbertoli
Setters: Mattia Bottolo, Daniele Lavia, Alessandro Michieletto, Tommaso Rinaldi
Center: Gianluca Galassi, Leandro Mosca, Roberto Russo, Giovanni Sanguinetti
Opposites: Alessandro Bovolenta, Yuri Romanò
Freelancers: Fabio Balaso, Leonardo Scanferla