Tomorrow, Saturday kicks off the World Club World Cup operation for the Prosecco DOC Imoco Volleyball Panthers, who will leave in the morning for China from Venice Marco Polo Airport on a direct Venice-Shanghai flight, 13 hours in the air and then reach the city of Hangzhou by coach in a couple of hours. Tomorrow, Saturday, at 9 a.m. before embarking for China, the Panthers will receive an official greeting from the Veneto Region, which is supporting Prosecco DOC Imoco’s trip to the land of the East. The Region’s Tourism Councillor Federico Caner, with the Veneto Region’s banner, will pose together with the entire team, staff and President Garbellotto under the plane that will take the yellow-blue team to Shanghai, for an evocative and hopefully auspicious souvenir photo of this event. The Veneto Region is partnering with Prosecco DOC Imoco Volleyball for the World Club Championship adventure. BACKGROUND
This is the fourth participation in the FIVB Club World Championship for Prosecco DOC Imoco Conegliano, which has collected two wins and a final in its first three participations: in 2019 in China in Shaoxing came the first success with the legendary comeback in the semifinal tie break with Vakif and the triumph in the final with Eczacibasi Istanbul; in 2021 in Ankara, Turkey, the Panthers were blocked only in the final by rivals Vakifbank Istanbul, only to take their revenge again in Turkey in 2022, but in Antalya where they won their second world title. ESORDIENTS
First time at the World Cup for Merit Adiwge, Katja Eckl, Khalia Lanier, Martyna Lukasik, Nanami Seki and Sarah Fahr, who will be pitted by injury in both 2021 and 2022. WINNERS
Two titles with Prosecco DOc Imoco for veterans De Gennaro and Wolosz, one for Lubian and Bardaro in 2022 with Conegliano, one for Gabi in 2021 with Vakifbank, while Isabelle Haak with Vakif in 2021 and with Prosecco DOc Imoco in 2022, and Zhu Ting with Vakifbank in 2017 and 2018 have won twice. Chirichella participated in the Club World Cup in 2019 in Shaoxing with Novara (4th place).
THE PROGRAM AND TELEVISION EXPOSURE
All matches will be broadcast live on DAZN and on Volleyballworld.tv (subscription only).
Prosecco DOC Imoco is placed in round B, starting on Tuesday 17 at 5:30 am in Italy (12:30 pm local) against Brazil’s Dentil Praia, then on Wednesday 18 second day at 2:00 am (9:00 am in China) against Vietnam’s LP Bank Ninh Binh, third and final round of the round on Friday 20 at 8:00 am Italian (h.15 in China) with the Japanese Red Rockets Kawasaki. On Saturday 21 at 8 a.m. the first semifinal (first of Group A vs. second of Group B) and at 12:30 p.m. the second (1st of Group B vs. second of Group A). Sunday, Dec. 22, the grand finale, match for 3rd place at 8 a.m. Italian time, grand final for the Club World Champion title at 12:30 p.m. THE OVERSARIES
Group A is composed of Numia Milan (Champions League finalist), the Chinese Tianjin Bohai Bank “hosts,” the Brazilian Gerdau Minas (coached by Treviso’s Nicola Negro) champions of South America, and the Egyptian Zamalek Sporting Club representing the African continent.
Group B consists of the European champions Prosecco DOC Imoco Conegliano, the Brazilian vice champions of South America Dentil Praia, the champions of Asia, Japan’s Red Rockets, and the finalist of the Asian championship, Lp Bank Ninh Binh who hails from Vietnam. STATEMENTS COACH DANIELE SANTARELLI: “WE WILL FACE SO MANY DIFFERENT VOLLEYBALL SCHOOLS, IT WILL NOT BE EASY TO ADAPT MATCH BY MATCH.”
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I have seen the girls very focused the closer we get to leaving for the World Cup in China. We have great memories related to this event and the fact that we were not there last year makes the anticipation for this event even “hotter.” We have had good tests to get to peak performance in the World Cup matches, so many games that we needed to oil the team’s mechanism and despite some ups and downs we arrived ready and charged for the appointment. We are well physically and this is important, we will face close matches, hopefully five matches in a week if we make it to the end and it will take the contribution of the whole squad, as has been the case throughout this part of the season. This is precisely why I rotated the pawns a lot in the last few games, I wanted to have everyone ready for this tournament in China that will be played at an unaccustomed pace. The level of the opponents in our group? We are studying them together with my staff, we will face teams from different schools of volleyball starting with the Brazilians who are probably the toughest in our pool, they have valuable and experienced forwards like Gattaz and Adenizia, two high level central players, a certainty like Macris on the dribble, a skilled team that will not be easy to face. The Vietnamese we do not know well, there is little material to study, but they have a very strong attacking opposite and the typical eastern fast game, a bit like the Red Rockets of Japan, a team that also relies heavily on speed and as per their tradition on application and responsiveness in defense. It will not be easy to adapt, we will have to be patient and try to impose our game beyond environmental factors, morning game times and the characteristics of the opponents. In sports nothing is a given, see the men’s World Cup which had surprises, we will go all the way in the round only if we give our best.”
STATEMENTS CAPTAIN JOANNA WOLOSZ: “WATCH OUT FOR THE FIRST GAME, DENTIL PRAIA IS STRONG AND EXPERIENCED”
“We are coming very charged up for this World Cup, we are looking forward to getting to China and playing this tournament that we have been preparing for some time. We have improved from game to game and have reached the level of play we wanted, this team has a strong group with many important players, both on the court and on the bench, and everyone always gives their contribution. In China we start right away with a challenging game because Dentil is a typical Brazilian team that is very physical, has important players on its roster and physical and experienced powerhouses that can put anyone in trouble. It will be very important to start well and break the ice. Then we have the two Asians who should be a little less dangerous, but they are always difficult teams to face because they have a quite different style of play from Europe, they play very fast, they defend a lot as per their habit and you have to be very careful not to have problems. Last year we didn’t play the World Cup, I personally am very fond of this event since the first unforgettable victory in 2019, it is a beautiful tournament different from all the others and I prepared together with my teammates to give my best. We will have to get used quickly to playing in the morning, to different volleyball from match to match, but it is part of our work and we are focused and charged because this is one of the big goals of the season.”