CONEGLIANO. The trolleys are almost ready, the suitcases are now closed, and the trophy to win is there waiting for them: the Prosecco Doc Imoco leaves on Monday for the Ankara Club World Cup, scheduled in the capital of Turkey from 15 to 19 December.
Conegliano, in his second participation in the world championship, is reigning champion since the 2019 edition (last year the tournament was not played due to Covid) held in December 2019 in China in Shaoxing and qualified for the event as the winning team of the Champions League 2021. Coach Santarelli will have the whole team apart from the absence of Sarah Fahr, who in any case will travel with the team continuing to work separately for the recovery from the knee injury. The “veterans” of the world champion team in China in 2019 are Wolosz, De Gennaro, De Kruijf, Sylla, Egonu, Gennari and Folie.
THE TRANSFER. On Monday at 7.30 the Gialloblù expedition for the world championship will leave from Imoco Village to Venice where the Panthers will board the flight to Ankara, with a stopover in Istanbul. The arrival in Ankara is scheduled at 5 pm (3 pm in Italy), in the late afternoon the first training session on the competition field, the Ankara Sports Hall, the main sports hall of the Turkish capital which can hold 12,000 spectators. On Tuesday another training session scheduled at 12 local time, on Wednesday the morning “finish” before the afternoon debut against the host Fenerbahce.
FORMULA. Two groups made up of three teams, the first two go to the semifinals. On the field in group A together with Prosecco DOC Imoco, holder of the world title won at the first participation in 2019 in China and reigning European champion, the Dentil Praia Clube Brazilian team, winner of the South American “Champions” and the organizing team of Fenerbahce Istanbul. In group B, Minas Tenis, another Brazilian finalist in the South American continental tournament, Vakifbank Istanbul finalist in the Champions League in Europe and the Kazakhs from Altay who won the Asian continental title.
MEDIA TV- The world championship event will be followed with excellent coverage by Sky Sport, which for the occasion fielded the tandem Roberto Prini-Consuelo Mangifesta on the microphones. The reference channels for the live shows will be Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Arena and Sky Sport Action; in-depth information also on Sky Sport 24, news on skysport.it and the official Sky Sport social channels.
SOCIAL. It will be possible to follow the world adventure in Ankara of the Panthers on a daily basis also through the social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok) of Imoco Volley that every day will publish video content, photos and graphics that will allow you to follow the transfer in every detail. Live post-race interviews are also scheduled on social media.
TV STREAMING – All matches will also be streamed (by subscription) on www.volleyballworld.tv, the web TV that also broadcasts the Italian championship.
THE GROUP Group A: Prosecco DOC Imoco, Dentil Praia Clube (Bra), Fenerbahce Istanbul (Tur) Group B: Minas Tenis Clube (Bra), Vakifbank Istanbul (Tur), Altay Club (Kaz)
THE GAMES Wednesday 15 December: 1.00 pm (Italian time) MINAS CLUBE (Bra) – ALTAY CLUB (Kaz) 4.30 pm PROSECCO DOC IMOCO – FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL (Tur) – Live Sky Sport 1 and Sky Sport Action (channel 201 and 206) Thursday 16 December : 13.00 ALTAY CLUB (Kaz) – VAKIFBANK ISTANBUL (Tur) 16.30 DENTIL PRAIA (Bra) – FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL (Tur) Friday 17 December: 13.00 PROSECCO DOC IMOCO – DENTIL PRAIA (Bra) – Live Sky Sport Arena (channel 204 ) 16.30 MINAS CLUBE (Bra) – VAKIFBANK ISTANBUL (Tur) Saturday 18 December 13.00 FIRST SEMIFINAL (1st of group A against second group B) – live Sky Sport Action (channel 206) 16.30 SECOND SEMIFINAL (1st of group B against second group A) – live Sky Sport Action (channel 206) Sunday 19 December at 13.00 FINAL 3/4 place at 16.30 FINAL 1/2 place – live Sky Sport Arena (channel 204).
THE ADVERSARIES OF THE PANTHER Fenerbahce are now a recurring opponent for coach Santarelli’s team. The team coached by the coach of the Serbian national team Zoran Terzic is one of the glories of Turkish volleyball, with 5 league titles, 3 Turkish cups, 3 super cups and in the international field 1 world club championship (2010), 1 champions league (2012) and 1 cev cup (2014). The Brazilians of Dentil Praia won the Brazilian national title in 2018, as well as two super cups; in the international arena they have recently won the first success of their history in the “Champions” of South America. He also has 7 Mineiro championship titles in his palmarès. An unprecedented challenge for the Panthers.
NEW “TEST” RULES FOR THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN AND WOMEN CLUBS. Three tests of the volleyball rules will be carried out during the World Cup in Turkey. All data and feedback from these tests will be evaluated and then shared with the competent FIVB Commissions, as well as with the FIVB Executive Committee and the FIVB Board of Directors for the final go-ahead.
1 – orientation of the playing field: changes the positioning of the chair of the first referee which will be placed on the side of the benches, in favor of the cameras. Then the team benches and warm-up areas located in front of the main camera will allow for more televised attention to the players and capture the reactions and emotions of the teams to create more engaging content for the fans.
2 – 15 second serve timer: the first referee will check, aided by a chronometer-display, that no more than 15 seconds elapse between the end of a point and the completion of the next serve. A “hitter” has seven seconds to prepare to serve and eight seconds to complete the serve. The main purpose of this test is to speed up the game and avoid delays between rallies to increase the attention of the fans accordingly. If the player fails to serve within the allotted time, the action will be considered a ‘service error’ and the point will be awarded to the opposing team.
3 – Coaches will be granted only one time out per set of 30 seconds, plus a technical time out of 60 seconds upon reaching the 12th point. The goal is to optimize the flow of the game to increase the intensity of a match while maintaining the attention of the fans for the duration of the match.
THE DECLARATIONS. Coach Daniele Santarelli: “It seems like a lifetime ago but only two years have passed, how many things have gone by since those days in China on the pitch and especially off the pitch. It is a unique, wonderful memory, a memorable stage for our club and our group. For almost all of us except Kim (Hill) and Robin (De Kruijf) it was the first time at a World Cup, for many of us the first time even in China, it was a new experience. We knew we had a strong team, but we had to compete with the best teams in the world and the ambition was not to win it, instead it happened and we did a company. Now the pressure is different, we play as holders because unfortunately the World Cup did not take place last year and this is the case. we will play practically away from home, there are two very strong local teams and we know well how important the presence of the friendly public is for the Turkish teams. Then there are two really high-level Brazilian teams, repeating ourselves will be very hard, in my opinion. lia of this tournament we all start at par. “
What is the general condition of the team at the departure for Turkey? “Compared to some time the situation has now improved, we are doing quite well. In the last few weeks we have been able to train almost completely and this has allowed us to progress in the condition of both the individual athletes and the team. I have also been able to do different things in the last period. rotations to warm up those who had played less. In such a short competition you will need the contribution of all. But not only that, I wanted, even risking something in terms of results, to give rest to the players who had practically always played, all of them shot the breath for at least one match, some like Paola Egonu even for two. The goal was to reach the highest possible level for this week. “
An iron group, it starts on Wednesday with the hosts of Fenerbahce: “In Ankara we will have undergone a test that will say a lot with Fenerbahce. We are in the most difficult group, Fener has made a crazy transfer market and is a real battleship, they have champions in every role and alternatives of thickness for each of the owners. two important setters, from this year they count on the rising star of Russian volleyball, Fedorotseva, the opposite Lazareva, another Russian national, a central we know well as Mina Popovic paired with the one who is perhaps the best in the world in the role, Erdem. In short, the primacy of the group will probably be played in the first match against the hosts, it will be tough, but the second match with Dentil Praia that dominates in Brazil will not be less difficult and will be a really uncomfortable opponent: they have the best Brazilians , an important attack and people like the Dutch Bujis and the Dominican Martinez that make them a very difficult customer. It will be fun, the team is ready to challenge the best in the world. V I would like to say hello to our fans, I know that many will follow us on television and on social networks, we always feel the closeness of our supporters even from a distance, we will play for them. “
Capitana Joanna “Asia” Wolosz: “Two years ago for almost all of us the World Cup was a new experience, we were also a new group with curiosity for that adventure to do together. It was a wonderful experience, a great joy, but that’s the past, now it’s a very different situation. Of course we have more pressure and more expectations on us, but our team and our club have shown over the years that taking the pressure and turning it in favor of it has been our strength. strongest teams in the world, we have worked well in recent weeks to be ready to face these top teams, trying to repeat two years ago will be a great challenge for us, we will do our best to make our fans dream. “
How do you arrive at this great event in Turkey? “Two weeks ago we lost our first game in a long time, in my opinion it was a useful defeat for us, for the group. It helped to get us back down to earth and push us to work even harder, with even more hunger than before, to raise the level of our game. From Wednesday we will be on the field in Ankara against all very strong teams, we have a very difficult group, we will have to play our best and push hard on every ball, from the beginning. “
Fenerbahce and Dentil Praia, two top teams in front of you in the group: “We will immediately face the home team, even two years ago we immediately faced the Eczacibasi which we then found again in the final, with Fenerbahce it will immediately be a great match and a very strong opponent. We have faced them in the past, but this year they are even stronger and moreover they play at home, it will be a very difficult start. Then the Brazilians, I haven’t studied them well yet, but they have top level players and the results speak for them. our chances as this team can do. “
NEW “JOMA” RACE JERSEYS FOR THE WORLD The special edition match jerseys that will be used in the World Cup matches, created by JOMA, technical sponsor of the Panthers who made his debut in 2019, the year of the first world title for the Conegliano club. “Models” Monica De Gennaro, Paola Egonu and Joanna Wolosz.
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