SASSARI. Sara Desini and the Italian women’s sitting volleyball team are ready to return to the field in the European championships, which start tomorrow and will go on until 23 October …
SASSARI. Sara Desini and the Italian women’s sitting volleyball team are ready to return to the field in the European championships, which kick off tomorrow and will go on until 23 October in Kemer, Turkey. The blue team, coached by Amauri Ribeiro, presents itself to the continental review as reigning vice champion, after the second place obtained in the 2019 edition held in Budapest, in which it had bowed only in the last act against Russia. Fresh from participation in the Tokyo Paralympic Games, she was included in Pool B and will play against the Netherlands (tomorrow, 8.30 am), Russia (Monday, 7.00 pm Italian), Ukraine (Tuesday, 12.30 pm Italian) and Hungary (Wednesday , 9 Italian).
«The emotions for this European are many – explains Sara Desini, the only Sardinian athlete in the selection – especially after the Tokyo experience. I am very happy to be here to live this new experience, but at the same time quite down to earth after the Paralympics. We are not as charged up as we were before Tokyo, because we still got a good blow to the face, as they say. But we certainly want to play and do a lot and show what we are worth. We missed playing in Tokyo but now we are back on track so we expect the best from ourselves. The conditions are there and I am confident ».
«Last European we finished second – adds the blue -, and it was an excellent result, so far we obviously aim to do better and finish first, but without pressure and doing our own. The group is quite feasible and certainly, as always, our biggest obstacle is Russia, but I’m sure that if we play well and concentrated we can face them with a good volleyball show ».
Fabio Fresu