The season of the national teams presented: controversy for the no of Chirichella, Lubian, Pietrini and Bonifacio. Bosetti is also outside. Egonu and Giannelli the two leaders
A start with a bang. At the Auditorium Testori of Palazzo Lombardia in Milan – in the presence of the Tourism Minister, Daniela Santanché, the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, and the Undersecretary for Sport and young people of the Lombardy Region, Federica Picchi – The new season of the Nationals was presented. A blue summer that will culminate with the World Cup: the Olympic gold women in Paris 2024 will be engaged in Thailand, the men’s champions men in charge will defend the title in the Philippines. The most awaited moment was that of the lists. The list of players and players chosen by Velasco and De Giorgi for the Nations League, the tournament that for years has prepared for the highlight of the season: European, world or Olympics. And once the names once revealed, it was the women’s list that attracted attention. Especially for the absence of some candidates for blue such as Marina Lubian (gold in Paris) and Cristina Chirichella (European gold in 2021) veterans from the Grand Slam with Conegliano, Elena Pietrini (European gold in 2021) recently returned with Milan after an intervention on the right shoulder and a long rehabilitation, and Sara Bonifacio, in the last season Novara. Velasco did not hide and in fact closed to them the door also for the future: “They told me no. I understand their motivations, I accept them and respect them. Nobody thinks of being able to decide every year whether to come or not to the national team. For me the door is almost closed. A no is always a no. A speech is to say: I have a problem and as soon as I solve it they are there. One thing is to say: I take a summer.
Olympic absences
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Compared to the fantastic ride of Paris, the absence of Caterina Bosetti has jumped to the eye. Returning from a season in Türkiye with VakifBank and ready to live a new adventure in Scandicci, the 31 -year -old was excluded from the new blue project. A painful decision that Velasco explained this way: “I called her and I explained that in that role we need to launch new players who give us an extra step. We want to repeat ourselves in a new cycle, in the previous one we started from the end by winning immediately in Paris”. However, Italy will be able to count on Paola Egonu, very confirmed in the role of leader by the coach who recalls how “for Paola in 2023 the speech of refusal to blue was different. Before saying no to the call, it was she who was left out”.
Fished by the A2
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The speech in the men’s field is different. The Scudetto final has not yet ended (today Race -4), from 16 to 18 May Perugia will be on the field in the Champions Final Four, but Fefé De Giorgi is keen to praise the spirit of belonging of his boys, especially of the captain: “Simone Giannelli – says the CT – gave availability to reach the group immediately after the Champions League final on the weekend of May 18. I will have to manage his rest”. Male calls with few news and some nice return. “As happened in 2021 with Romanò, then engaged in A-2, I convened another player who comes from our second series: Giulio Pinali. The boy was part of the blue group when we won the European Championship in 2021 and the World Cup in 2022 This is why I wanted to reward him “. In the preparation of the Nations League 2025, the Azzurri will have a way to play a special game: “On May 31 we will play a friendly in Padua against Iran, a special occasion to remember the late blue champion Michele Pasinato (for years the flag of Padua, he missed April 8, 2021, ed)”.
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