The CEV European Tour Big Guns land in Prato Nevoso

Countdown for the CEV Snow Volley European Tour final round is about to run out. Prato Nevoso (Italy) is ready to host the event scheduled this weekend, March 30th-31st.

Twenty-six teams from 10 different countries will participate in the Men and Women pool and elimination rounds on Saturday, whilst the final phases are scheduled on Sunday, with the finals and the ceremony awards in the early afternoon. The Snow Volley Festival will then continue on Easter Monday.

Eighteen teams registered for the Men's tournament. Twelve are from Italy, while the other six come from Switzerland, Türkiye, France, Poland, Belgium and Uruguay (wild card). 

The French team also includes Adrien Pédèches and Iskander El-Ghouti, winners of the European Tour round-2 in Erzurum, Türkiye, with Daniel Petrov. This time Pédèches and El-Ghouti will play with Julien Saint-Vanne and Nicolas Salmon. Polish Piotr Groszek, Michal Matyja and Mikolaj Kaczmarek will look for a revenge, after losing the final against France in the Turkish round. Karole Szczepanik completes the Polish quartet.

All the main competitors will have to watch out for the Italian trio made up of Massimo Di Risio, Federico Geromin and Matteo Camozzi, who prevailed at the beginning of March in the inaugural round in Bakuriani, Georgia, against Poland 1 (Matyja, Ciemachowski, Janiak, Groszek).

High expectations also for Alessandro Carucci and the Pizzileo brothers (Filippo, Tommaso, Edoardo), as well as for Michele Bennato, Matteo Carlon, Enrico Lupatelli and Gaetano Vespero. Thomas Berger, Michael Burgmann and Peter Seeber have also shone in Parto Nevoso: last year they were crowned snowvolleyball Italian champions here.

Eight teams signed up for the women's draw: two Hungarian, one Turkish, one Czech, one Austrian, three Italian ones. The Italian champions Sofia Arcaini, Sara Breidenbach and Anna Dalmazzo will try to stand as the main rivals of Turkish Erve Celebi, Zeynep Dila, Nursel Yaren Sencel and Simge Yalcin, winner of both the Bakuriani round in Georgia, beating countrywomen Simdim, Sayar, Yuceturk, Civan, and the home one in Elzurum against Romania (Hododi, Miu, Bradatan, Shahzada).

Including both the tournament and the Snow Volley Festival, over 250 people -  among athletes, referees and staff - are expected in Prato Nevoso.