Incredible Italy seal world title with dramatic win over Türkiye

A fantastic Italy secured their second world title in history at the FIVB Women’s World Championship, after a dramatic final against Türkiye, with a 3:2 (25-23, 13-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-8) win in the final which took place on Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand.

Italy delivered another fantastic performance, with their 36th consecutive win in official matches, now holding the Olympic title, the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League title and the world title, all won in the span of 13 months.

Moreover, Italy are the second team in the last 25 years to hold both the Olympic and the world titles, after Cuba, but their performance has been nothing short of outstanding, dropping only five sets on their way to the world title, four of which came in their wins against Brazil in the semi-finals and Türkiye in the final.

Italy also gave the MVP of the competition, setter Alessia Orro, who was also the best setter of this edition of the FIVB Women’s World Championship, and in the final Orro was again sublime, performing at the highest level and setting up her teammates for easy points.

Both Orro and Sarah Fahr have been nursing injuries before the final, but Orro once again led Italy be example, while Fahr had five points, but Italy’s top scorers were Paola Egonu (22 points) and Myriam Sylla (18 points), underlining once again how much depth Italy have.

Ekaterina Antropova added 14 points, while Danesi herself scored seven.

“This victory is very emotional for us. After winning the World Championship, the Olympics, and two VNLs, I believe this team will be remembered as a legendary one in the future, like a few others. I’m very proud of them. They won two very difficult matches over the last two days, and they do their best every single day in practice and really deserve everything they’ve achieved,” said Italy’s coach, Julio Velasco, according to Volleyball World.

Italy won the first set, 25:23, but then Türkiye bounced back and won the next, 25:13. The third set was balanced, with Italy edging it out, 26:24, before their opponents, the reigning European champions, took the fourth set, 25:19, pushing the World Championship final into the decider.

There, Italy were stronger and never let Türkiye get close, despite Melissa Vargas finishing the match with 33 points. After Türkiye took a 6:4 lead, they could only muster two more points, falling to a sublime Italy comeback, with the world champions outscoring their opponents 11:2, including scoring the last six points of the match.

“I still can’t believe it. II’m really proud of the team and incredibly happy. This is a moment I’ll never forget. It’s probably the last time for some of our players, too, and my heart is full now,” Egonu said after the gold medal match.

For Italy, this is the third consecutive medal at the FIVB Women’s World Championship, after winning the silver in 2018 and the bronze in 2022. This was also Italy’s fourth medal, after they won the title in 2002. For Türkiye, this was their first medal in history at the World Championship.

Earlier in the day, Brazil took the bronze medal, with a 3:2 win against Japan.