L'Italvolley is world champion! Folded Turkey after an epic final
L’Italvolley is world champion: the Azzurre team overcame Turkey 3-2 in an epic final to become world champions one year after the historic Olympic gold medal in Paris. Julio Velasco’s team, which arrived at 36 consecutive victories, wrote history again, imposing 3-2 with scores of 25-23, 13-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-8. For Italy, it is the second world title after the one won in 2002 in Berlin.
Italy went ahead twice, and twice was caught up by the Turks due to two blackouts in both the second and fourth sets. At the tie-break, however, Egonu and her teammates won unchallenged thanks to a great defensive display, and closed 15-8 to win the tournament. For Velasco, it is the third World Cup won after the two with the Italian men’s national team in 1990 and 1994.
Turkey’s Daniele Santarelli’s 33 points from a wonderful Vargas were not enough. Instead, the Azzurre’s top scorers were Egonu (22 points), Sylla (19 points) and Antropova (14 points).
The Azzurre concluded an incredible four-year period: since 2021 this national team has won a European Championship, two Nations Leagues, the gold medal at the Olympics and now the World Championship.
