Federvolley has officially revealed this morning the list of the 22 athelets (which will become 19) that could be used for the Olympics qualifying tournament that Italy will play in Tokio between the 31st of May and the 8th of June for the World League 2008.
On Andrea Anastasi’s list appear Emanuele Birarelli and Dore Della Lunga, rispectively Itas Diatec Trentino’s middle blocker and spiker.
For the two players, this is the very first senior national teams’ call, while they have both played in the junior team many times.
“I am very happy – Dore admits – I have had the fortune to show myself during this championship and because of that I have been able to get back what my wrist injury took away in the last season. This is a first important step, but I know that there will be a lot of work to be done to conquer a place in the official 12”.
“I am obviously happy about this call – echoes Bira – I join an important group on my tip toes but I am not one who gets exited about something like that. Now I want to do well with Trento, then I will dedicate myself to the national team; being able to confront myself in training with the best middle blockers in Italy is already a reason of great interest for me”.
Here’s the official list of players:
Setters: Coscione (Roma), Meoni (Piacenza), Travica (Milano), Vermiglio (Macerata).
DP: Fei (Treviso), Gavotto (Montichiari), Perazzolo (Padova).
MB: Birarelli (Trento), Bovolenta (Piacenza), Mastrangelo (Roma), Tencati (Modena), Sala (Montichiari), Semenzato (Roma).
Spikers: Casoli (Modena), Cisolla (Treviso), Della Lunga (Trento), Martino (Milano), Paparoni (Macerata), Savani (Roma), Zlatanov (Piacenza).
Libero: Corsano (Macerata), Manià (Montichiari).
In the Olympics qualifying tournament in Tokio, which will only assign for Beijin 2008, Italy will have to meet Japan, Australia, South Korea, Iran, Thailand, Algeria and Argentina.
In the World League, which will start on the week end of the 13 – 15 june, Italy will meet Cuba, South Korea and Russia in Pool B.
Final phase on schedule between the 23rd and the 27th of July in Rio de Janeiro.
