The Italian Women’s Sitting Volleyball team superb fourth-place-finish on debut at the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands in July was given national recognition after the team was officially presented during the opening ceremony of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Rome, Italy on Sunday.
Italy’s performance at the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Arnhem and Rotterdam was inspiring and saw them collect a lot of new fans from not only their home country but around the world as they lost to defending world champions China before beating Slovenia and Iran in pool play before claiming the scalp of four time champions the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Italy eventually lost to Olympic champions USA in the semifinals before China beat them again in the bronze medal match.
The world No. 11 played a demonstration game against the Italian men’s national club champions Fonte Roma Eur at Foro Italico before being officially presented on court before the start of the opening game of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship between Italy and Japan.
Earlier in the day, around 1,000 children participated in a Sitting Volleyball clinic with former Italian volleyball stars Andrea Lucchetta and Nadia Centoni, illustrating the strength of Sitting Volleyball for sharing and social inclusion.
Photos c/o Daniele Celesti
The event was part of a project by the Italian Volleyball Federation called Volley Insieme (Volley Together) that won the Oltre Sport Oltre award promoted by the Vodafone Italia Foundation.
The added value of this project, which will also take place during the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Florence on September 14, is the redefinition of the concept of “disability” and “diversity” in a constructive and positive way where the able-bodied put themselves in the shoes of people with disabilities by sitting on the ground and playing “Volley Together” thus reaching an emotional involvement of all the parties involved, which is ideal for encouraging the integration process.
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World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships Netherlands 2018
FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Italy 2018