Italy secures bronze-ware at the 2012 London Olympic Games – Volleyball News
Italy men’s national volleyball team overpowered resilient rival Bulgaria in the third-position match of the 2012 London Olympic volleyball tournament on Sunday. Italians posted 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-22, and 25-21) victory over Bulgaria and settled for the
bronze-ware.
The two teams crossed their ways at the Earls Court for their last match of the 2012 London Olympic Games. A large number of volleyball enthusiasts came to witness the thrilling action, which continued for almost 1 hour and 49 minutes. Italy proved to be
better and won the four-set affair. Victory enabled Italians to get hold of their fifth medal in the Olympic history.
The captain of the Italian team, Cristian Savani, did justice to his role and led the team to success. He was named the top-scorer of the match as he contributed 23 points. Likewise, the team got good support from Michal Lasko who finished with 18 points
in the match. These two Italian players did a fantastic job and received huge applause from the international audience.
Bulgaria, on the other hand, had four players in double-digits, but still dropped the decision. Captain Vladimir Nikolov and Todor Aleksiev helped the team with 12 points apiece, whereas Viktor Yosifov and Tsvetan Sokolov contributed 11 points each.
Italy caught a good start in the match and picked up an early lead. Bulgarian players took time to settle down in their positions and lagged behind. Italian hotshots played fast and rallied from 8-4 to 16-9. The gap of points kept stretching out as Italy
did not slow down. Bulgaria tried to come out of the blues, but failed to do so and dropped opening frame with six points (25-19).
In the second set, Bulgarian fought bravely and managed to overcome the rival side with small margin of two points (25-23).
Bulgaria tied the game score at 1-1 at the end of second-set. However, Italy bounced back in the following set and retook the lead. Italy captured third and fourth sets, and announced match victory.
Mauro Berruto, the successful mentor of Team Italia, commented: “In a sport like Volleyball, where there are 220 federations associated with the FIVB, to come in third is an enormous achievement. This was the maximum we could do. We have to recognize that
there are two teams who are in front of us. Our tea hadn’t made the podium since 2005, Now it is time to attack the highest level. We are on the podium again and it is good to get used to being there. This medal will be the fuel to push us to go and grab the
highest place on the podium.”
Tags: