Italy lead European podium sweep at Women’s U20 World Championship
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Italy defeated Serbia in straight sets to win the FIVB Women’s Under-20 World Championship title in Rotterdam. Giorgia Frosini, Beatrice Gardini and Loveth Omoruyi each scored 11 points as Italy stormed to a 25-18, 25-20, 25-23 victory.
It caps a dominant tournament for Italy, who went undefeated throughout and lost only two sets across eight matches. Setter Gaia Guiducci received the award for the Most Valuable Player and described the victory as “a dream come true”.
Gaia Guiducci“Becoming world champions is something that we have been dreaming of for such a long time! Throughout the whole competition, we have been able to keep our faith alive. Since we started preparation for this championship, we knew that we could achieve our goal. It is a dream come true! This group of players deserves this title.”
Captain of Italy and MVP of the championship
Italy had already beaten Serbia in straight sets in the second group stage. The gold medal makes up for the disappointment Italy suffered last summer when they could not contest the final round of the U19 Women’s European Championship due to COVID-19 restrictions preventing them from travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The third-place playoff was a back-and-fourth affair, which ended in heart-breaking loss for the co-hosts. The Netherlands took a two-set lead, but Russia fought back and took the match to a decider. The Dutch has six match points, but they could not convert any and instead the Russians won the bronze medal. It finished 16-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 22-20 after a fifth set which just kept on going.
European teams were dominant at the event held in Rotterdam (NED) and Kortrijk (BEL), sweeping the top four places of the final standing – with Poland finishing sixth after losing the classification match for places 5-6 to the United States. Belarus beat Turkey 3-1 in the matchup for places 9-10.
For further information, visit https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/w-u20-2021/.