Paralympics: Wembrace, great sports festival in Milan with Bebe Vio

Sport and inclusion were once again the protagonists of a unique event. Smiles, laughter, baskets and hits, dunks and goals, beautiful words and concrete actions that show how sport is one and only one, the distinctions are there but only the ways change, not the substance. Wembrace Sport, an event conceived by Bebe Vio and created by art4sport, the association created by her parents over ten years ago, is like this, showing unique moments for Olympic and Paralympic champions, united by passion.

Italy against France

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This year’s edition was a great challenge between Italy and France, as a tribute to the upcoming Paris Olympics. There were Regina Baresi and Fabio Galante with Lorenzo Lollo Marcantognini, Ephrem Bona and Riccardo Cattaneo, coached by Fabio Capello and Giuseppe Baresi, legends not only of Milan and Inter. And then fencing, basketball and volleyball champions mixed in. WEmbrace Sport was once again a success at the Allianz Cloud in Milan. Bebe says: “Sport shows how to achieve inclusion and how this is possible, without distinctions”. The presence of Andrea Abodi, minister of sport, bears witness to this: “It is a pleasure to be able to see how sport can unite without distinction, providing wonderful emotions. The Paralympic athletes together with the Olympic ones are an example of how life should also be faced, not just sporting commitment.” The Italian athletes won 4 to 0 against the French ones in four different Paralympic sports disciplines, wheelchair fencing, amputee football, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball, in a series of matches in an event designed and created to demonstrate that integrated sport is a concrete objective and is also capable of maintaining the level of professionalism and competitiveness of the Olympic context. Champions of the two worlds: in fencing, Valentina Vezzali, Paolo Pizzo, Edoardo Giordan, El Assine Moez; in volleyball, Elisa Spediacci, new European champion with the Italian national sitting volleyball team, Davide Nadai and Francesca Fossato, of art4sport, Matteo Piano and Marco Vitelli; in basketball, Filippo Carossino, captain of the national wheelchair basketball team and Briantea Cantù, Giulio Papi, Alessandro Sbuelz, Bruno Cerella, Tommy Marino, Liston Johnson, who moved from the NBA to the wheelchair and was named best player here too. The event was presented by Ilaria D’Amico and Gianluca Gazzoli, directed by Mauro Dell’Olio, one of the protagonists of the collateral events also at the Giro d’Italia. The proceeds of the evening will be donated to the art4sport Association, which since its inception has followed and supported children and young people with prosthetic limbs. The objective is therefore to provide concrete help in practicing sports through the purchase of prostheses, wheelchairs and sports aids. Says Teresa Grandis, President of art4sport: “Wembrace Sport has become one of the unmissable events in our calendar in recent years. We have always considered sport a privileged tool for inclusion and evenings like this demonstrate that barriers only exist until we all make a concrete commitment to breaking them down. We thank the French Olympic and Paralympic Committee, our partners and all those who believe in the project.”