From Egonu to Castillo, here are all the stars of the World Cup

There are those who are (also) queen of TV commercials, those who dream of a career in fashion, those who have found salvation in religion after problems with alcohol and those who dreamed of a career in karate. Here are all the stars of the women’s volleyball World Cup starting on 23 September.

The star of Italian volleyball. Paola Egonu at 23 is undoubtedly the cover woman of Italvolley. She is one meter and 93 cm of devastating power (for the opponents) on a model’s body, so much so that she has been an Armani testimonial for several years.

And fashion is one of her balls, so much so that she thinks of a career in the field when she stops hitting the opponent’s defenses. Parents of Nigerian origin, she was born in Cittadella in the province of Padua. Her potential was so evident that Club Italia (the federal team that collects and grows the best talents) chose her at 13 and kept her for four years (usually the cycles are biennial and start at 14. -15). With her family divided between Manchester, where her parents moved for work, the United States, where her sister Angela went to study, and Nigeria, where Paola goes to visit grandparents and cousins ​​when she can, the opposite blue in Italy he found his base in Conegliano where for three years he guaranteed, together with a spectacular group, the countless victories of the Imoco.

In his memory album he already has two Olympics (the first in 2016 at the age of 18), a World silver and a European gold. After this World Cup he will begin his adventure in Turkey in the Vakifbank, which has been at the international top for years. But first the goal is to bring Italy to the top of the world.

At 25, he already has a list of trophies that could be enough for a couple of careers, including a World gold medal, an Olympic silver and bronze medal, and two European golds. At 18 she was already a star of the Turkish championship, in the Eczacibasi, but she is predestined as a young girl. She was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she grew up in Bileca before moving to Belgrade. Resigned to the fact that karate was not her sport, she immediately distinguished herself in volleyball together with her older sister Dajana. At the age of 13, Turkey offered her a transfer and nationality, but her family objected. At home they often compare her to Ivan Miljkovic, opposite of the Olympic gold in 2000. Last year, after the bronze in Tokyo, she had to bow to rival Egonu in the European final played at home in front of twenty thousand spectators. This year, after having rested during the Nations League, she returned to the national team under the orders of the new coach Santarelli who appointed her as captain after the farewell to the national team of the historic leader Ognjenovic.

Mercedes, L’Oreal, Nike: Zehra Gunes buys well-known brands and with over two million followers on Instagram is the most popular Turkish volleyball player in Turkey and one of the most popular internationally. Angel face on almost two meters high and talent to sell, the Vakifbank headquarters (the company in which she grew up), in the skilled hands of Giovanni Guidetti, became, at only 23 years old, one of the pillars of the Turkish national team and the its popularity exploded after the Tokyo Olympics.

With Vakif he already has three Club World Cups, 4 Turkish titles and two Champions League on his bulletin board, while with the Turkey shirt he has a silver and a European bronze. She is engaged to the son of a well-known Turkish businessman and is the star of several TV commercials.

Angel and demon. Definitely Reina del Caribe. Brenda Castillo has been the backbone of defense and reception in the Dominican Republic for more than ten years. One of the best free in the world. Beautiful restless Brenda who will play the second season in Scandicci after the World Cup. Alcohol problems and her lack of discipline have kept her away from her national team on a couple of occasions. At the age of 20, she is faced with the pain of losing a child in the 19th week of gestation, a few weeks before the London Olympics (2012) which she should not have attended. She recovers in record time and finishes with a fifth place and the prize for the best free of the event.

For some years it has found its way into religion and posts photos and biblical verses on Instagram.

Best opponent at the Tokyo Games (won), Annie Drews is the star of the US Olympic champions. Born in Indiana into a sports family – her brother Derek played basketball at Western Michigan University -, 191 tall Drews has been on the national team since 2017, she also (briefly) passed from the Italian championship (between Legnano and Casalmaggiore), was one of the stars of the Japanese championship and after winning everything last summer he closed the experience at JT Marvelous. She graduated in Tourism Management, but her dream is to open a small business in the field of gastronomy. She got married last year to Tanner Schumacher, a former Purdue University baseball player.

Born on Christmas Day 1993, she is on a mission on behalf of God. “I became a Christian in college and I truly believe that God has endowed me with the opportunity and ability to continue playing and learning in this sport,” she said before the Games. Tokyo.

There is a lot of Italy in the career of Joanna Wolosz, the Polish setter who returns to the national team coached by Stefano Lavarini for the World Cup after the problems with the previous coach Jacek Nawrocki. Joanna at the registry office but for all Asia has known volleyball at school, in her city (Elblag), in her curriculum there is a lot of Italy: the first experience is in 2013/14 with Busto Arsizio, then after a parenthesis in Poland, from 2017 he finds the Italian Serie A1 with Imoco Conegliano and wins everything: he wins 4 league titles, a Champions League, 4 Italian Super Cups, 3 Italian Cups. On the occasion of the 2021 poker success, she had her photograph taken in the dressing room without veils, covered only by the Champions League trophy.

Born in the 1990s, passionate about thrillers and historical books, Asia loves walking on the hills of Valdobbiadene or to Lake Santa Croce, her favorite. She is a true leader, she knows how to make the team dance around her not only on the pitch as seen in the video in which she guides her companions to dance “Jerusalema”.

“Gabi” Guimarães, at 28, will be the captain of Brazil in renewal after the Olympic silver (Natalia Pereiral, Fe Garay and the free Camila Brait have retired). “I am in the best moment of my career – she declared after the success in the Champions League with Vakifbank – Today I feel much more mature and experienced. I still have a lot to learn, I don’t consider myself the best player in the world. For me Egonu (who will be his teammate in Turkey next season) is by far the best player in the world, physically and mentally … ”.

Gabi was born in Belo Horizonte, has a long collection of successes since youth. A complete player (“but I have to improve on the block because I’m not that tall”), before choosing volley she played soccer and tennis, she practiced swimming with her three older brothers. “I watched the matches of Kuerten, Federer and Nadal. . I’ve always admired Federer, I wanted to do everything in sport like him. I wanted to play smart, do things that others can’t. Thanks to Federer, I tried to bring what I learned playing tennis into volleyball ”.